Jürgen Klopp likes to wear a cap – not a flat cap like Helmut Schön once did as national coach, but a baseball cap. The DFB should start producing more caps like this soon. It should be clear as of today that Klopp will be the new “man in the hat” in a few months. A comment.
Jürgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool FC in the summer and taking over the German national football team. Part one of this headline has been a reality since Friday morning, part two is something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Klopp has been the dream national coach for years – in rare harmony, both fans and the ailing DFB want the Swabians to be a euphoria machine for the lifeless shell of the national team.
Who could do that better than Klopp? None. Neither does Julian Nagelsmann. As a national coach, he only has a contract until the end of the European Championship (perhaps with wise foresight). Then the way is clear for Klopp.
Jürgen Klopp has what Julian Nagelsman lacks
Certainly, Nagelsmann is a first-class football expert. A meticulous, obsessive perfectionist. But even if the DFB team (unexpectedly) convinces at the European Championships, they are missing what football Germany needs as a national coach, what it demands: the ability to unite players, the association and the football people behind them and to prescribe a new attack .
Who, if not the man-catcher Klopp, can breathe life back into Germany’s once favorite child? Especially since the snow-white Rudi “Nazionale” Völler finally says ciao after the Euro.
Luckily there is only one Jürgen Klopp.
Until now, it was the master coach himself who blocked the logical path to the DFB. “I can’t do the job at all. I can’t say to the Liverpool owners: ‘I’m going to do Germany for a moment,’ said Klopp in an RTL interview last year after the dismissal of Hansi Flick. He was out of his heart’s English club Liverpool “committed to the players and the city”.
Jürgen Klopp wants to say goodbye to Liverpool FC with a big hurray
Now Klopp has cleared the emotional red stop sign and is withdrawing early from his contract, which runs until 2026. Klopp noticed that his energy was waning, that perhaps his aura was also losing its magic. It was similar at the end of his time at BVB.
Klopp’s Reds are playing big again this season. In the League Cup they are in the final, in the Premier League they say hello from the top after 21 matchdays.
Klopp wants to say goodbye to Liverpool with one last big hurrah. He then becomes national coach. Why? Because he wants it too! Although he has announced that he will take a year off after Liverpool. Klopp has never made a secret of the fact that the national coaching role would be a dream job for him. The DFB would probably even be willing to grant Klopp a “sabbatical” and accept an interim solution until he takes office (there is only one Rudi Völler).
The 56-year-old is likely to enjoy the burden of being the Republic’s top football teacher as a late challenge to a unique coaching career. She comes at exactly the right time. The daily hardships on the training pitch are then a thing of the past, as are the struggles of being an English team manager.
Instead, when the home European Championship is finally over, Klopp can put on a black and white hat and work in the background on fundamentally rebuilding the national team.
“Kloppo” time. Rarely has a national coach’s choice been so logical. So easy. Or?
Martin Armbruster