Image Credits: Imago Images
Jurgen Klopp opted to take a break from football after leaving Liverpool, but soon returned as Red Bull’s Head of Global Soccer. During his time at Anfield, he led the club to the UEFA Champions League title in 2019 and their first league crown in 30 years in 2019-20, while also winning the FA Cup, EFL Cup and FIFA Club World Cup before announcing his departure in 2024.
Klopp explained: “I told the club already in November. I can understand that it’s a shock for a lot of people in this moment, when you hear it for the first time, but obviously I can explain it – or at least try to explain it.
“I love absolutely everything about this club, I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff. I love everything.
“But that I still take this decision shows you that I am convinced it is the one I have to take. It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy.
“I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.”
Klopp’s agent and advisor, Marc Kosicke, has revealed that clubs have been eager to bring him back into management. He turned down approaches from both Manchester United and Chelsea, while Bayern Munich also failed to lure him away during his successful spell at Liverpool.
Kosicke said: “Bayern came very close to signing us twice. Once in 2008: Uli Hoeness wanted Jurgen Klopp, but Karl-Heinz Rummenigge wanted Jurgen Klinsmann.
“And after Niko Kovac (who was sacked in November 2019), when Jurgen was at Liverpool, they approached us again. Nobody thought things would be so successful with (eventual Bayern boss) Hansi Flick. There just wasn’t the right momentum.”
Jurgen Klopp spent most of his playing career at Mainz 05, initially as a striker before moving into defence. After retiring in 2001, he became the club’s manager, earning Bundesliga promotion in 2004.
Following relegation in 2006-07 and failing to secure another promotion, he resigned in 2008 as Mainz’s longest-serving manager.
Klopp then took charge of Borussia Dortmund. He won his first trophy with Dortmund by defeating Bayern Munich to claim the 2008 German Supercup. He went on to clinch the Bundesliga in 2010-11 and achieved the club’s first domestic double in a record-breaking season.
He also guided Dortmund to the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League final, losing 2-1 to Bayern Munich, and departed in 2015 as the club’s longest-serving manager.
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