Klopp starts Germany head coach job with talk of resigning

AP:

Jürgen Klopp made a punchy start to his new job as Germany coach yesterday laying out red lines he’d consider resigning over, even before his turnaround effort with a squad which failed, yet again at the World Cup.

In a combative first news conference, the ex-Liverpool manager warned the German media he’ll quit if he believes they’re intruding on his family’s privacy.

He also hinted Germany could be his last job in coaching and admitted he hasn’t been an avid follower of international games.

Klopp’s targets are Euro 2028 and the 2030 World Cup

Klopp was the German federation’s top target and now he’s signed a contract through to the 2030 World Cup. At his presentation yesterday he said it was “a big honour” to take the job and signalled it could be his final role as coach.

Klopp said he would be prepared to leave without any severance pay if it doesn’t work out, or if criticism becomes overwhelming, and threatened to resign if the media doesn’t “leave my family in peace”.

“Jürgen Klopp has no career after the national team,” he said. “Ideally, this will be the highlight of my career, my life, my working life. I will put everything into it that I possibly can.”

He replaces Julian Nagelsmann, who resigned amid heavy criticism after Germany’s loss to Paraguay meant they failed to reach the last 16 of a men’s World Cup for the third time in a row.

Klopp indicated he believed Nagelsmann and England’s coach Thomas Tuchel had been treated unfairly in the media. “I’m doing the job even though I’ve heard how you treated Julian, although I’ve heard how England treats Tuchel,” he said, without specifying what exactly he thought was the problem.

It is Klopp’s first coaching job since he left Liverpool in 2024 citing fatigue. He said he was “recharged” in comments while in talks over the Germany job.

Klopp signalled he plans to make some surprising squad selections and said his mission isn’t just to win games, but to bring back a buzz around the team.

Klopp himself admitted that “it’s been a while” since he watched national team games outside of major tournaments.

“I want to create something with the national team that means that people go home after the game and think ‘That was really cool.’ That’s what I’d like to see happen,” he said.

PREFERRED CANDIDATE

The man known for thrilling “heavy metal football” at Liverpool, Klopp was Germany’s preferred candidate as soon as Nagelsmann quit.

Over weeks of talks, the 59-year-old German – 20 years older than Nagelsmann – stayed in the United States as a World Cup pundit for a German-language broadcaster.

The federation also held talks with the Red Bull group, where Klopp spent the last year and a half as “head of global football” advising its worldwide group of football clubs.

German federation president Bernd Neuendorf said there wouldn’t be a typical release fee paid to Red Bull for Klopp. Instead, the federation pays one million euros (US$1.14 million) to a Red Bull-linked charity and has agreed to hold three national team games in the eastern city of Leipzig, where Red Bull backs the city’s Bundesliga club team.

Klopp faces a tough introduction to his first national team job with four Nations League games in 11 days against the Netherlands, Greece and Serbia in late September and early October. The first major milestone will be the 2028 European Championship.