Jürgen Klopp Germany coach era opens with quit warning to media
Jürgen Klopp said he will leave Germany without severance if media attention targets his family during his four-year spell.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
The Jürgen Klopp Germany coach era began with a firm line in the sand: leave his family alone or he will leave the job. At his unveiling on Friday, Klopp told journalists he would step down if media attention crossed into his private life, ESPN reported.
The former Liverpool manager has taken over from Julian Nagelsmann, who departed after Germany lost a penalty shootout to Paraguay at the recent World Cup, according to ESPN. Klopp is returning to full-time management for the first time since ending a nine-year run at Liverpool.
Why did Klopp say he would quit Germany?
Klopp said he would walk away if the media targeted his family, and added that he would do so without severance pay. He also told reporters that if the wider media consensus became that he should go, he would leave, while making clear that one or two critics would not be enough.
According to ESPN, Klopp said he had seen what happened with Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel, and said conditions are worse in some other countries. His request to reporters was direct: judge his work, the tactics and the results, rather than his family.
Klopp said criticism of whether things work or fail is fair, and added that he does not need excessive praise when the team succeeds. If something goes wrong, he said he is willing to work on it, ESPN reported.
Germany have appointed Klopp on a four-year deal that runs through the 2030 World Cup. That tournament is scheduled to be hosted by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
The appointment puts one of the sport’s highest-profile club managers into the international game, where time with players is far more limited. Klopp acknowledged that the job will not come with the same volume of pitch work as club football, saying he had not prepared “800 training sessions,” according to ESPN.
How will Klopp handle club concerns?
Klopp has long criticized the international calendar, and he signaled a softer approach toward club managers than some national-team bosses might take. If a club coach tells him a player should not be called up because of a heavy run of matches, Klopp said he would accept that and listen, ESPN reported.
That matters because national teams borrow players from clubs during international windows, often after congested league and cup schedules. Klopp said he would not battle club coaches aggressively over such cases.
Before taking the Germany job, Klopp had been serving as Red Bull’s global head of soccer. ESPN reported that his release from that role involved a €1 million donation to the company’s charitable foundation and a commitment to play three matches in Leipzig.
Klopp now inherits a Germany side trying to recover from another painful tournament exit. His first public message as head coach was less about formations than boundaries: the football is open for debate, but his family is not.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.