Jurgen Klopp last coached Liverpool in 2024, but was Red Bull’s head of world football, managing Leipzig and New York.
Published July 24, 2026
Germany has hired Jurgen Klopp to coach its national team, giving the former Liverpool manager the difficult task of turning around the fortunes of a team that has failed yet again at the World Cup.
Klopp, famous for his success as manager of Borussia Dortmund and especially Liverpool, is in talks with the German Football Association (DFB) in a bid to bring Germany, a long-time soccer powerhouse, back to prominence.
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“It’s a great honor to be sitting here,” said Klopp. “I knew how big the job of being the national team coach was, but actually being directly involved in it made me realize the size and responsibility even more.”
Klopp resigned from his Liverpool job in 2024, citing fatigue. Klopp said he was “reinvigorated” in his comments during negotiations over the German job.
Klopp said on Friday that he was prepared to resign without any severance package if things didn’t work out, and threatened to resign if the media did not “give my family peace of mind”.
The 59-year-old is one of the most decorated football managers of his generation and is under contract with Germany until 2030, the date of the next World Cup.
Klopp has signed a contract with Austrian energy drink maker Red Bull from 2025 as “head of global football”, overseeing the company’s soccer clubs including RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg and New York Red Bulls.
German federation president Bernd Neuendorf said Klopp’s Red Bulls would not be paid the usual termination fee. In exchange, the federation will pay 1 million euros ($1.14 million) to the Red Bull-affiliated Wings for Life Charitable Foundation, which supports research into spinal cord injuries.
They also agreed to host three national team matches in the eastern city of Leipzig, where Red Bull supports the city’s Bundesliga club team.
Following Germany’s disappointing exit from this summer’s World Cup, losing to Paraguay in a penalty shootout in the last 32, the DFB sacked former coach Julian Nagelsmann.
This means the German men’s team has suffered a third straight World Cup failure since winning their fourth title in 2014.
Germany was eliminated from the first round in both 2018 and 2022. They have won only one match in the last five major tournaments and reached the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 as hosts.
Klopp spent more than 10 years as a player at German club Mainz before enjoying a successful coaching career at Dortmund.
He then became a legend at Liverpool, coaching the England team to the league title in 2020, ending a 30-year drought. He also led the club to victory in the Champions League and their sixth European title.
Klopp faces a tough start to his first international job, with four Nations League matches against the Netherlands, Greece and Serbia in 11 days between late September and early October.
