Christian Fuchs On NFG Esports, The MLS, Ralf Rangnick, And More

Life after becoming a Premier League champion, in the most miraculous of circumstances, has skyrocketed for Christian Fuchs. The Austrian-born footballer played a pivotal part in the one-in-a-million storyline of a 5000/1 shot winning the most elite league in their sport, often being the vocalist in their hymns. Now, he's starting a new venture in Charlotte, America, and has branched into esports with his FIFA-based organisation, No Fuchs Given.

We sat down with Christian Fuchs to discuss the future of No Fuchs Given, his life in the MLS, and what he thinks of the current Premier League talking points, such as his former manager Ralf Rangnick.

What originally got you interested in esports and what made you want to start your own team?

Well, it was two factors, one was my son and the other was a meeting with Trevor Keane who's running my esports division. A couple of years ago, when my son was a little bit younger, he followed an esports player mainly on YouTube. I initially didn't know what to make of it, but I saw the interest that he had. When I was speaking with him and talking about esports, I would ask him: 'You know what he's doing?' and 'Who is that?'. That kind of created this spark and I thought it was interesting, and at the same time I was introduced to Trevor Keane, and those two factors just worked together. It was not a decision that just happened overnight but eventually, we said okay - let's try this and see how it goes.

NFG's main interests seem to be in FIFA, I'm not sure what you or your son are into, but do you have any ambitions to expand into other titles?

Yes, that's something that we're working on right now. We're definitely interested in other titles, we're just exploring the field a little bit, doing our due diligence as well - not just jumping onto another title for the sake of it. We want to know how things would work from a business point of view. My son is playing Rocket League now. I'm also looking at League of Legends and other similar games.

I was honestly disappointed with the FIFA scene this season, as a lot of tournaments were cancelled. As a team you suffer, but each individual player suffers because they can't get the bonuses or the prize money they can play for, so that was disappointing. But that confirmed for us that we should also look at other titles.

Just on your players, what type of relationships do you have with them?

I obviously have Trevor who is working with them on a daily basis but we also have bi-weekly meetings to check in with them to see how they're doing. I like personal interaction, that's very important. Unfortunately the nature of being a professional athlete, I don't have the time to manage on a day-to-day business. We had a meeting just two weeks ago, it was really basic stuff like 'Hey what are you doing outside of FIFA?', 'What are your interests?', I think it's very important to get to know them on a personal level, rather than purely knowing them for how hard they're performing.

Like you said, your son has followed different esports personalities, do you ever see the industry becoming similar to traditional sports, and seeing millions of fans in stadiums?

Well, it's definitely easier than going to a stadium, just do it from your couch where it's comfortable for you. It definitely has the potential. I think it's also growing to such an extent that the audience might exceed any real-life event because you can do it from wherever. You can be comfortable in your own bed and no one can judge you! It just has great potential in terms of viewership because you can watch it with the click of a button.

What experiences do you have in the gaming world personally, do you play many games?

Everybody grew up playing games. I grew up playing FIFA and PES and that was just the highlight of the day you know. Getting home after school, when you've done your homework, which is very important, you meet your friends and play some FIFA.

Do you still get time these days? Did you ever hold a mini-tournament when you were at Leicester?

Unfortunately during the end of my time at Leicester, the boundaries such as social distancing and staying at home prevented us from playing each other in person. But now that I'm living in the United States I'm playing online with my academy in England, that's fun. When I grew up you had to be in-person to play against each other. Now you can just play with anybody online.

At the end of next month, your first season as a player in the MLS is set to begin with Charlotte FC. Your owner, David Tepper, is reported to be the wealthiest owner in the entire league, so what are your expectations for the club over the next few seasons?

Yes, David is very wealthy, but you kind of forget that the MLS is an entity. Basically, he's bought a franchise in the MLS but the MLS oversees everything, so no matter how much money you have to stick to the regulations, like the salary caps for example.

Everything is very exciting. We've just finished the first two weeks of the pre-season schedule and the set-up is great here. The Bank of America Stadium is a huge arena with 75,000 seats and our first game of the season is against LA Galaxy which should be a good game and the club is trying to make it a sell-out. It's amazing.

We're currently using the stadium for training and we've come across a few of the Carolina Panthers and we're using some of their facilities. There are a lot of gym sessions at the moment and you feel tiny next to NFL players. There are a lot of dumbbells that weigh 160lb, and players are monsters.

Your former teammate Jamie Vardy owns a minority stake in fellow American side Rochester Rhinos. With a clear interest in football stateside, can you see him joining you in the MLS at some point in the future?

I think for players overall there's an interest in wanting to come to the US. It's an exciting space and a space which is still growing. The MLS is now 26 years old, which is relatively young compared to the other leagues around the world. It's massively growing and it's interesting to pick the brains of my new teammates as some of them have played in the MLS already. They tell me that the MLS has changed drastically from five years ago to now. There's a lot of space for the MLS to make further developments to get to a similar level of some good leagues across Europe but maybe not the very top leagues.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the talent we already have here now. It has to be the youngest team I've played in, but they're really talented players. The only thing I can't make a judgment on at the moment is the physicality, which is something I've been used to in England and Germany. We haven't had enough training sessions yet where I can translate from one league to another, however, the basis is very good and there's a lot of talent here in the US.

Luis Suarez is currently linked with a move to the MLS with Inter Miami. From the league's perspective, would you be excited to see him join you in the Eastern Conference?

Why not? It's closer to his home as well. Being closer to home is a factor for a lot of South American players. Javier Hernández's here and he looks very happy and comfortable at the LA Galaxy. It could be five, ten, 15 years, but more senior players are going to come over to the MLS. If you have a country with over 300 million people living in it, then I think it's only a matter of time before the league grows to an extent where it can attract bigger names.

Your former manager Ralf Rangnick is off to a mixed start as Manchester United boss. How do you believe he's performing in his audition to become United manager on a permanent basis?

I got to know Ralf [Rangnick] about 15 years ago when he was at Hoffenheim, before he signed me at Schalke a few years later, but he resigned after six games or so due to personal reasons. However, his methodology is very well known in Germany and a lot of coaches praise the work that he's done so far. He's a great man. It's always difficult at a club like Manchester United when nothing counts other than winning. Manchester United's performances have dipped now for a couple of years so you can't just assume that one person is going to come in and fix everything overnight. It's a process.

As a neutral, what I love to see is a team fighting for the 1-0 like they did against West Ham at the weekend, and you see players like [Edinson] Cavani and [Marcus] Rashford celebrating the way they did, with all that passion. It shows that this team is alive. They want to work and they want to get better.

People cannot just assume that a manager can come in and be at the top of the league the next day. It doesn't work like that.

Knowing him as you do, do you believe that Rangnick will have patience for any players in the current United set-up that aren't trying hard enough to intensify their work rate?

Right now for Ralf, it's all about winning. He doesn't have the time to introduce a style that would be better to implement in pre-season. If you start in June before pre-season then you'd probably have more patience with the players, but because he was appointed midseason it's all about winning and qualifying for the Champions League, so there won't be any patience. As a manager, you come with new ideas, a new philosophy and it may just be a couple of tweaks, but you have to understand that this might not happen overnight. Overnight, a team isn't going to be 100% changed. For players and managers, getting to know each other's ways just takes time.

Ralf has had some wins which I think is something you can expect, but one thing you can't expect is for a new manager to win everything when they've taken over midseason. It doesn't work like that.

Another former manager of yours, Brendan Rodgers, is among the names linked with the Manchester United job. Do you think he would be a very good choice for United?

I have blue blood, so I wouldn't want to see them lose an excellent manager.

A player in the spotlight is Harry Maguire - what was he like to play and work with? - and do you think he can still recapture that brilliance we saw at Leicester?

Harry's career has majorly accelerated over the last couple of seasons. Coming from Hull to Leicester, to then getting into the national team and joining Manchester United, the expectation from the fans is going to be very high. He went from 0 to 100 in two years. In two years you can play great football, but then it's all about consistency. Overall, Harry is still a young player and it's not only the positive moments that make you a good player, it's also those moments when you clear those issues that can occur, deal with them and come out even stronger.

I've played with Harry and he's a great centre-back. A player you can rely on and feel comfortable playing alongside. You know he's covering you and has your back. He's a great player.

Speaking of former teammates and touching back on Vardy a little bit - in his absence, Patson Daka has proven himself to be a very fitting replacement. What have you made of his performances so far this season and do you believe Daka could follow in the footsteps of Jamie if he moves on?

He's been an amazing addition. He started off by scoring four goals in the Europa League! He has a similar profile to Jamie Vardy in terms of pace. They're both very quick and it suits the way that Leicester plays. At Leicester, your workrate has to be spot on defensively, because Leicester wins with team performances. Over the years they've done really well with recruitment, but Daka has been a great signing in my eyes. There might be a time, maybe sooner rather than later, where Jamie Vardy won't be there anymore or won't be able to play at the same level anymore - even though I hope he plays on for another 20 years. To have someone like Daka to replace him when he's not available is ideal.

Currently sat in 10th place and out of the Europa League, what do you think about Leicester's season so far and can you understand the unrest amongst some sections of the supporters?

For my son and I, Leicester games are always in the calendar. Speaking to a lot of people over there, especially the coaches, it seems a little bit topsy-turvy at the moment. They haven't got the results they've deserved, especially in the Tottenham game. However, in that case, it's down to focus. If you don't win, then at least don't lose. Brendan would have been really disappointed with that game. They've also had to deal with the more established players, such as Jonny Evans, being injured. Players who would have brought more consistency into the defence. I know we're at the end of January, but I hope they can turn it around to make this a semi-positive season and build for the next. There are still a lot of games to play and a lot of points to play for.

Youri Tielemans and Wesley Fofana are two players linked with a move away from Leicester. Do you believe their current midtable position means that they'll struggle to hold onto their best players?

I think they can continue to hold onto their big name players. Leicester is a place where you can express yourself and they make you feel really appreciated and valued as a player. You have to realise that if a big club comes in then it may be enticing for some players, but Leicester has grown in stature to a point where it's no longer seen as a small club. Despite some bad results this season they continue to be competitive with everyone.

James Maddison has been tipped to be working his way back into the England Squad. If Jack Grealish is worth £100 million, then how much should James Maddison be valued at?

I don't like to put a value on players as they're not realistic anyway. If a team has to make an offer for a good player then they have to be aware that the price of the player is always going to go up. It won't go down. If there's an outstanding talent who plays for the English national team and is performing well, then you're going to have to dig deep into your pockets to get them. Never underestimate the fact of players feeling comfortable at a club as well. For me at least, that has a big value.

And finally, how are you finding life in Charlotte?

I spent a few months here last year playing for a USL team as it was important for me to stay fit and to know the people around here. Finally seeing the whole group together makes it finally feel real. The enthusiasm is growing and I cannot wait to hear the first whistle in the first game and get going.

You can catch more of Christian and NFG Esports on their twitter here.