Leicester City In 100 Players: Christian Fuchs
Left full-back Christian Fuchs was Nigel Pearson’s last signing for Leicester City in July 2015. He was a key member of the City side which became Premier League champions at the end of his first season playing for the Foxes. As Austria’s permanent captain since 2012, he had already won 66 international caps before arriving in Leicester.
He had become a professional as a 17 year old at SV Mattersburg in the Austrian Bundesliga where he made 155 appearances. He then moved to Germany, playing in the Bundesliga for VfL Bochum (2008-2010), 1.FSV Mainz 05 (2010-11) and Schalke 04 (2011-2015), where he helped his side win the DFL-Supercup and played in the UEFA Champions League.
When he arrived at Leicester, the Foxes had just achieved the ‘Great Escape’ from relegation and had a new manager, Claudio Ranieri. Christian didn’t make his Premier League debut until the eighth match of the season on 3 October, 2015 but then he only missed one league game for the rest of the campaign as his new team went on to become Premier League champions.
He was primarily an excellent defender. That season, he made the most tackles and the second highest number of interceptions in the Premier League. A very determined player, he was also good at going forward, and was a good passer of the ball.
He also had an extrovert personality with a sense of fun, as evidenced by him dousing Ranieri with champagne in a press conference after Leicester had won the Premier League.
After captaining Austria in the UEFA EURO 2016 finals, he retired from international football having played in 78 internationals.
The following season, he was an ever-present in City’s UEFA Champions League campaign which ended in a narrow defeat to Atlético Madrid in the quarter-finals. Another highlight was his first Premier League goal, which was a stunning half-volley against Crystal Palace.
Initially only intending to stay at Leicester for three seasons before rejoining his family in the USA, Christian stayed on to become an important member of the squad until 2021.
Later that year, he played for Charlotte Independence in the USA’s second tier and, in 2022, made 26 appearances for Charlotte FC in that club’s first season in the MLS.
He joined Charlotte FC’s coaching staff in 2023 when the team defeated Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami to reach the end-of-season play-offs and is currently working with the ex-City Manager Dean Smith, who is now Charlotte FC’s head coach.