Jurgen Klopp agrees in principle to become new Germany head coach

Jurgen Klopp has agreed in principle to become the new head coach of the German national team.

Klopp, 59, has agreed terms with the German football association (DFB) on a contract until 2030, which will run through the 2028 European Championship and the 2030 World Cup. The former Liverpool head coach, who has been serving as Red Bull’s Global Head of Soccer since January 2025, takes over from Julian Nagelsmann, who resigned his position following Germany’s defeat by Paraguay on penalties in the World Cup’s Round-of-32.

The final hurdle to a full agreement is likely to be reached early next week, following meetings in the United States with Oliver Mintzlaff, the managing director of Red Bull, during which Klopp’s departure from the organisation will be agreed.

“DFB President Bernd Neuendorf and DFB Vice President Hans-Joachim Watzke held their first in-depth talks with Jurgen Klopp yesterday in New York regarding his potential appointment as national team coach,” a DFB spokesperson said. “During the constructive exchange, an agreement was reached on the key points of a potential contract.

“Talks will continue next week. Both sides are confident that the negotiations – subject to an agreement with Klopp’s current employer, Red Bull – can ultimately be successfully concluded. Any potential contract must be finalized in a joint meeting of the supervisory board and shareholders’ meeting of DFB GmbH & Co. KG.”

Pep Lijnders, who served as Klopp’s assistant coach at Liverpool and under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, has also agreed to become part of the new coaching team, whose first game in charge will be the Nations League match against the Netherlands in Amsterdam on September 24.

Following the news of Nagelsmann’s resignation, and a statement from the German Football Association (DFB) saying it would “seek talks” with Klopp over the role, and that he had “already signaled his general willingness to take on the position”, the former Liverpool manager confirmed he was in discussions over taking the role.

Later that day, while talking to German broadcaster Magenta, Klopp said: “Yes, I can confirm the talks. Things moved pretty quickly. Julian stepped down. The DFB are looking for a successor. And they’re talking to me.

“I need to talk to Oliver Mintzlaff (CEO of corporate projects and investments at Red Bull). He’s my employer. We’ve already texted things. I assume he’s not in the way. I was there for 19 months. It was an intense time. Ideally, there are only winners in the end. Red Bull must come out of the number clean.”

Klopp has been out of management since he left Liverpool at the end of the 2023-24 season. He was appointed Red Bull’s global head of soccer in October 2024 and began the role the following January. He has been consistently linked with coaching jobs since his departure from Anfield and left the door open for a return to management in March, saying he was “not quite finished as a coach yet” after dismissing reports linking him to Real Madrid.

The Germany role is set to be Klopp’s first in international management. His previous spells came with Mainz and Borussia Dortmund in Germany, before his nine years at Anfield.

Klopp guided Liverpool to their maiden Premier League title in the 2019-20 season, having also won the club’s first Champions League in 14 years in the previous campaign. His side also won the FA Cup in 2022, and the League Cup twice during his tenure.

Nagelsmann’s reign as head coach officially ended four days after their 3-2 shootout defeat to Paraguay after a 1-1 draw, extending a run which has seen Germany fail to reach the last-16 of a World Cup in each of the three iterations since they won the tournament in 2014.

The 38-year-old said after the defeat that he would not resign, but The Athletic reported four days later that he had stepped down, which was confirmed by the DFB hours later.

Nagelsmann’s spell lasted just shy of three years. He led Germany at the European Championships in 2024, as they were beaten by Spain in the quarter-finals.

‘A populist move’

This was inevitable from the moment that the DFB and Klopp went public about their desire to work together.

In the first instance, it will be restorative. Whatever the footballing merits of the appointment may be, it is a populist move; Klopp is the most successful German coach of this generation, but he is also a household name in the country beyond the sport and there will be great appetite to see him succeed.

As a personality, he is direct contrast to Nagelsmann. Klopp is affable and media friendly, whereas Nagelsmann had a spiky demeanour which did not play well with the German public when things went wrong. In addition, having never played the game at a high level — his playing career was ended by injury — he was often treated with suspicion by former German internationals, many of whom hold powerful positions in the domestic media and were liberal with their criticism.

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