Tonda Eckert

Early life and career

Eckert was born on 31 January 1993 in Germany.^[1] He aspired for a career in sports, having studied at the Sporthochschule Köln in Cologne. He played football at an amateur level, making several appearances for Viktoria Arnoldsweiler [de] in the Mittelrheinliga (fifth tier) in the spring of 2016. By that time he had already worked for Germany's national team as an analyst at UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup, also studying the culture of the adversary nation and what it might mean for the DNA of their team.^[2]

As a coach, Eckert was assistant coach of the under-17 team at 1. FC Köln from 2013 to 2016, before becoming assistant coach to Marco Rose of Red Bull Salzburg's under-18 team in the 2016–17 season, when the team won the 2016–17 UEFA Youth League. Within the Red Bull group, he moved to RB Leipzig in 2017, where he spent two years as assistant coach of the under-19 team, initially under Robert Klauß and then under Alexander Blessin. In the 2019–20 season, he was assistant coach to Miroslav Klose with FC Bayern Munich's under-17 team.^{[citation needed]}

Moving from his native Germany to England,^[3] Eckert was appointed assistant manager to Gerhard Struber (whom he already knew from Salzburg) at Barnsley in August 2020,^[4] remaining in post until January 2022.^[5] During the same month, he joined Genoa as assistant to Alexander Blessin, staying in Italy for three years and a half, using his time there to get his UEFA Pro Licence.^{[citation needed]}

Southampton

In July 2025, Eckert was appointed under-21s head coach at Southampton.^[6][7] Following the dismissal of Will Still on 2 November, Eckert was appointed interim head coach of the senior team.^[8][9] His first match as head coach was a 2–1 victory away to Queens Park Rangers on 5 November.^[10] This was followed by further victories: 3–1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday on 8 November^[11] and 5–1 away to Charlton Athletic on 22 November.^[12] On 5 December, Eckert was appointed as manager on a permanent basis.^[13] On 13 March 2026, Eckert was awarded the EFL Championship Manager of the Month for February after Southampton picked up 13 points from a possible 15.^[14] Continued good form in March saw him win the award for a second consecutive month, picking up 10 out of 12 possible points.^[15] Following 14 points from six matches in April, Eckert won the EFL Championship Manager of the Month for a third time in a row.^[16]

In May 2026, Southampton were accused of improperly recording training sessions of Middlesbrough prior to their EFL Championship play-offs semi-final contest.^[17] Southampton initially claimed that the surveillance was done without order from club leadership or members of the coaching staff, though they later admitted to spying on Middlesbrough along with two other teams in the EFL Championship. According to The Daily Telegraph, Eckert allegedly took responsibility for the decision to spy on other teams and claimed that he was unaware it was against the FA's rules on scouting opponents.^[18] Southampton were expelled from the EFL Championship play-offs and deducted four points for the 2026–27 season as punishment for the rule breaches.^[19] It was subsequently reported that the FA is considering charging Eckert with misconduct over the spying scandal.^[20]