Jürgen Klopp has made a name for himself in the football world. Because of his success as a coach – and his personality as a person.
Jürgen Klopp has been able to celebrate every success in his coaching career so far. He became German champion twice with Borussia Dortmund and also won the DFB Cup and the Supercup twice with BVB. He then continued his successful streak at Liverpool FC.
With the “Reds” he won the English Super Cup and League Cup. Also cup winner, UEFA Supercup winner, FIFA Club World Champion. He received the World Club Coach of the Year award twice. He crowned his triumphs with the Champions League victory in the 2018/19 season and became English champions one season later. But despite all his successes, Klopp has always remained down to earth. His modesty and emotionality are what set him apart.
Klopp is popular. Not just among the fans of Mainz, BVB and Liverpool, but among football fans worldwide. Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel explained it this way: “He has always managed to influence the entire club in an incredible way in all his positions.” In a human way.
Klopp is honest
If Klopp doesn’t like something, he says so. Always. His honest nature is popular with football fans. For example, when Liverpool led 2-0 in the Champions League against Real Madrid in the first leg of the round of 16 in February 2023 and ended up losing 5-2, Klopp then said in relation to an exit from the premier class: “Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid coach , Note d. Red.) thinks it’s over – and I think so too at the moment.”
However, there were no whistles or boos from the fans. There was silence for a moment, then the chants echoed across the stands again. This despite the fact that the English media spoke of a “catastrophic” and “embarrassing” performance. Klopp was questioned. The eventual exit from the Champions League was as good as sealed at this point. But the Reds fans knew and know what they have in Klopp.
“I’m happy in Liverpool”
And Klopp repeatedly emphasized: “I’m happy in Liverpool.” He didn’t say that as an empty phrase, the way other coaches praise their clubs’ cities and then move on after a few months or a year or two. Klopp meant it. And too much attention is usually uncomfortable for him.
When the fans at Anfield Road sang the song “I’m so glad, that Jürgen is a Red” for him in August last year , he responded annoyed. Klopp gestured wildly at the supporters, became upset and said: “Can you stop singing that shit?! Can you stop?” Klopp didn’t want to be praised until he had secured victory.
And he doesn’t want his players to be ridiculed. Darwin Núñez moved to Liverpool FC in July 2022 for a fee of 85 million euros. When the fans doubted him because of a missed great opportunity, Klopp simply said at a press conference after the game: “The general verdict on Núñez doesn’t interest us at all.”
“Just sit where you sit”
He then added: “For some people it’s a kind of game or a joke to filter out situations where a player didn’t do something well. He missed an opportunity and I can promise you it wasn’t the last.” When criticism came, Klopp brushed it off. No matter whether he was at the center of it or one of its professionals.
Then his expression darkened and Klopp hit back at journalists with sentences like “It’s really easy to sit where you sit or all the people who judge us.” Klopp has not been shy about not answering questions in the past. He refused to answer if he found a question impossible. It is this style, coupled with insights into one’s own emotional world, that made it possible to get close to the fans.
When Klopp recently lost his wedding ring at a game and a cameraman found it afterwards, Klopp said dryly: “That’s the one who follows me around with the Steadicam all the time and I don’t really like it that much, but that’s my buddy.”
It’s sentences like these that will be missing at Anfield Road from summer onwards and will leave big shoes to fill in Liverpool.