Hürzeler Spotted With Wedding Ring Hours Before Brighton Destroyed Crystal Palace 5-0
Fabian Hürzeler was seen wearing what appeared to be a wedding ring during Brighton and Hove Albion’s 5-0 victory over Crystal Palace at the American Express Stadium on Sunday.
This detail drew attention as the 33-year-old German head coach oversees one of the most prolific starts to a season in the club’s history. Neither Hürzeler nor the club has commented on the ring, and no engagement or marriage has been announced.
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Hürzeler has not spoken publicly about the matter, but his private life has been in view since earlier this year. He is in a relationship with the German actress Anna Karolin Berger, who joined the ARD television drama “Sturm der Liebe” in 2025 and plays the jewelry designer Larissa Mahnke.
The couple confirmed their relationship with a joint Instagram post from a holiday in Mauritius. Berger works largely in Munich while Hürzeler is based on the south coast of England.
The ring was a footnote to an afternoon that belonged to his players. Brighton led within four minutes, when Palace defender Jaydee Canvot headed Pascal Groß’s pressure into his own net.
Three minutes later, the 23-year-old Paraguayan midfielder Diego Gómez took possession after Olivier Boscagli won the ball from Adam Wharton, noticed goalkeeper Walter Benítez off his line and struck from just inside the Palace half.
Benítez sprinted back and dived, but the ball dropped under the crossbar. Opta measured the goal at 51 metres, the longest-range effort in the Premier League since Wayne Rooney scored from 58 metres for Everton against West Ham in November 2017.
Yasin Ayari made it 3-0 in the tenth minute with a deflected finish after a pass from Charalampos Kostoulas, who added the fourth himself four minutes after the interval.
Jack Hinshelwood completed the scoring in the 84th minute. Palace substitutes Jean-Philippe Mateta and Jefferson Lerma each struck the woodwork, but the visitors never threatened a response. Brighton finished with 17 shots to Palace’s five and put nine on target to the visitors’ one, while Bart Verbruggen in the home goal made a single save to Benítez’s five.
The numbers extended well beyond the scoreline. Brighton became only the ninth side in Premier League history to score three goals in the opening ten minutes of a match, and the first since Newcastle United against Tottenham Hotspur in April 2023.
They have now scored 23 league goals in seven games, their highest total at this stage of a season in the top four tiers of English football. Only Barcelona have scored more across Europe’s five major leagues.
The five-goal margin was also Brighton’s biggest home win since a 6-0 defeat of Wolverhampton Wanderers in April 2023, and only the second time they have scored five against Palace, after a third-division South meeting in January 1956.
The result lifted Brighton to 16 points from a possible 21, briefly putting them above Arsenal and into second place on Sunday, before they finished third in the Premier League this week. It was also Hürzeler’s first win over Palace in five attempts as Brighton’s head coach.
Last season, a 1-0 home defeat in the same fixture brought boos from the home supporters, and Palace’s FA Cup triumph at the end of that campaign cost Brighton a place in European competition.
Hürzeler used the aftermath to protect his players from the noise. He urged supporters to enjoy a beer and avoid checking the table, and told his squad to “stay humble,” insisting there is still room for improvement despite the scoreline.
Palace, by contrast, are in difficulty. The Eagles have won two of their seven league games and sit on seven points. They have conceded 17 goals, the most at this stage of a season by any club in the top four tiers since 1980-81, when Palace shipped 21, and pressure is building on their manager, Pierre Sage. The sides meet again at Selhurst Park on May 15.
Hürzeler’s rise has been rapid. Born in Houston, Texas, on February 26, 1993, he came through Bayern Munich’s youth system. He played for the club’s reserve team before moving into coaching at 23 as player-manager of the amateur side FC Pipinsried.
He became an assistant at St. Pauli in 2020 and took over as head coach in December 2022, then led the Hamburg club back to the Bundesliga as champions of the second division.
Brighton appointed him on June 15, 2024, as Roberto De Zerbi’s successor, making him the youngest head coach in Premier League history at 31. He won the league’s Manager of the Month award in his first month in England.
