Jurgen Klopp reveals he turned down an approach from Germany while in charge of Liverpool in 2023, feeling he was duty-bound to correct a poor season
Global Head of Soccer Jürgen Klopp gestures at Red Bull Hangar-7 on January 14, 2025 in Salzburg, Austria
(Image: Marcel Engelbrecht - firo sportphoto/Getty Images)
Jurgen Klopp has revealed he turned down an approach from Germany in 2023, admitting he felt he couldn't leave Liverpool after disappointing season. The Reds failed to qualify for the Champions League in the 22/33 term under Klopp as they were made to settle for a Europa League spot by ending the campaign in fifth.
And speaking to Welt in his homeland, the 2020 Premier League felt he had a duty to put it right at Anfield when the prospect of the Mannschaft job was put to him two years ago.
"The season before that [final one] didn't go so well for Liverpool - and in the summer after this season, Germany was looking for a new national coach," Klopp said. "I could have said 'yes' because it might have been better to do something different.
"I didn't want to. And the decision was not about the job of the national coach itself. I couldn't leave Liverpool like that. There was a team, there were people with whom I had a relationship. I've never been so cold not to remember the good things I said to a player a week earlier.
"We had brought in new players like Endo, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai and Mac Allister. With them and the core team, I wanted to fix it again. That was important to me. We managed to do that. Nevertheless, the decision to stop in Liverpool matured.
"I communicated this internally early on, until we went public in January, also at the request of the owners. You talk about a perfect handover, but there are others who say that perhaps Liverpool would have become champions if we had only made it public later. But for me it felt right, just like it did back then in Mainz and later in Dortmund."
Klopp added: "The contact [with Liverpool] is very good – with some players who write from time to time or send one or two photos from their holidays. The owners are now good friends.
"And I also wrote to Arne from time to time, we saw each other first. He was happy about my gesture at the time (singing his name on the pitch after final game).
"And to be honest: When it started so well under him, I asked myself as a person for a moment whether I thought it was good that this was the case (laughs). Yes, that's really good – that makes me happy. I was recently back in Liverpool in my role as an ambassador for the LFC Foundation, and it was nice to see everyone again.
"But I'm glad I don't have to be there every day anymore. The time in Liverpool was wonderful, but it's over. A colorful bouquet full of memories – and 99% of them are beautiful."
Opening up more on his decision to walk away from coaching after nearly 25 years, Klopp said: "I don't want it anymore.
"I now have a job (as Red Bull's global head of soccer) that fulfills me and is also intense. I don't sleep longer in the morning and I don't go to bed later in the evening, but I can organize my work much better.
"My wife, for example, is totally happy with it because we can plan things much better that we couldn't plan before. For me, it was never about not doing anything anymore, but about doing something else. I've coached 1081 games, and that's not including the friendly matches. If we add those from 23 years, we might come to 1200.
"Then the press conferences, the media appointments. I always just reacted. And in Liverpool there were also the tasks as manager. That was a lot, a lot.
"But of course I also enjoyed it. Some days I couldn't believe my luck. Look where I come from – and I make it to Liverpool FC, and it works quite well there.
"If I were to go somewhere as a coach again now, it would start all over again. I am me! I can't just take over and train. Then I would be fully involved in everything again. And I just don't see that anymore. I met Roy Hodgson the other day.
"He came up to me and asked how I was doing. In the same breath, he told me: 'I miss it.' And I'm like: 'What!?' Roy is 77 years old – and he wants to work as a coach again. Insanity!
"When we played with Liverpool against Crystal Palace, I always asked him if he had a damp apartment or why he was here on the pitch now. But Jose Mourinho also said to me: "This is not the end". There are these coaches who always want to do that.
"I loved being a coach, but I was never addicted. If at some point people don't know that I used to be a coach at Liverpool FC, that's fine. No problem. For me, it's about the people around me, they are important to me – and it's about a meaningful task for me."