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Jürgen Klopp made an impactful start to his new job as Germany manager on Friday, setting out the red lines for which he would consider resigning, even before his turnaround effort with a team that failed again at the World Cup.
In a combative first press conference, the former Liverpool manager warned German media he would resign if he thought they were encroaching on his family’s privacy.
He also hinted that Germany could be his last coaching job and admitted he is not a keen fan of international matches.
Klopp targets Euro 2028 and 2030 World Cup
Klopp was the German FA’s top target and has now signed a contract until the 2030 World Cup. During his presentation on Friday, he said it was “a great honour” to accept the job and signaled it could be his last coaching role.
Klopp said Friday he would be willing to leave without any severance package if it didn’t work or if criticism became overwhelming, and threatened to resign if the media didn’t “leave my family in peace.”
“Jürgen Klopp has no career after the national team,” he said. “Ideally, it will be the highlight of my career, of my life, of my professional life. I will put everything I can into it.”
He replaces Julian Nagelsmann, who resigned amid heavy criticism after Germany’s loss to Paraguay prevented Germany from reaching the round of 16 at a men’s World Cup for the third time in a row.
Klopp said he believed Nagelsmann and England coach Thomas Tuchel had been treated unfairly in the media. “I’m doing the job even though I heard how you treated Julian, even though I heard how England treat Tuchel,” he said, without specifying exactly what he thought the problem was.
Klopp wants to make German football ‘cool’ again
This is Klopp’s first coaching job since leaving Liverpool in 2024 due to fatigue. He said he was “recharged” in his comments during discussions about labor in Germany.
Klopp has signaled that he plans to make some surprising selections to the squad and said his mission is not just to win games, but to bring back the buzz around the team.
Klopp himself admitted that “it’s been a while” since he watched the national team’s matches outside of major tournaments.
“I want to create something with the national team that makes people go home after the match and think, ‘That was really cool’.” That’s what I’d like to see happen,” he said.
Klopp’s arrival follows World Cup talks
The man known for his thrilling “heavy metal football” at Liverpool, Klopp was Germany’s preferred candidate from Nagelsmann’s departure.
As weeks of discussions wore on, the 59-year-old German – 20 years older than Nagelsmann – remained in the United States as a World Cup pundit for a German-language television network.
The federation has also held talks with the Red Bull Group, where Klopp has spent the last year and a half as “head of global football”, advising its global group of football clubs.
German FA president Bernd Neuendorf said there would be no typical exit fee paid to Red Bull for Klopp. Instead, the federation is paying one million euros ($1.14 million) to a Red Bull-linked charity and has agreed to host three national team matches in the eastern city of Leipzig, where Red Bull supports the city’s Bundesliga team.
Klopp faces a difficult introduction to his first national team job with four Nations League matches in 11 days against the Netherlands, Greece and Serbia in late September and early October. The first major step will be the 2028 European Championship.
Mertesacker joins Klopp in Germany
Germany have not won a World Cup knockout match since beating Argentina in the 2014 final. Now a player from that squad will work alongside Klopp.
Former defender Per Mertesacker joins Klopp as the federation’s new general director of sport, with a role overseeing the German men’s national teams and a focus on getting players from the youth national teams to play for the senior team. He will take up the role in January and will join Arsenal’s academy after eight years.
Klopp reunites with two of his assistants from his time at Liverpool, Peter Krawietz and Pep Lijnders, weeks after Lijnders left his role as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Man City. Former German player Sven Bender also plays an assistant role.
In an unusual arrangement, Klopp’s longtime agent Marc Kosicke joins the coaching staff in a role focused on strategy and administration, but will not be an employee of the federation.
Associated Press reporting.
