The German Football Association (DFB) has officially appointed Jurgen Klopp as the head coach of the national team. The 59-year-old, who has long been a preferred candidate for the DFB, steps into the role following the resignation of Julian Nagelsmann earlier in July. Nagelsmann’s departure was accelerated by Germany's disappointing exit in the last-32 round of this summer's World Cup after a penalty shootout defeat to Paraguay. This event marked the third consecutive early World Cup exit for Germany since their 2014 tournament victory.
Klopp’s contract is set to begin on August 15 and will run through the 2030 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, and include centenary matches in South America. During a press conference in Frankfurt, Klopp described the appointment as the high point of his professional life and expressed his commitment to the role. However, he maintained a candid tone, jokingly warning reporters that his tenure would end if they began labeling him as "crap" in the future.
To secure his services, the DFB negotiated an early release from his existing contract with Red Bull, where he had served as "Head of Global Soccer" since 2025, a role he was under contract for until 2029. Klopp stepped down as Liverpool coach in 2024 after a wildly successful spell, winning all available trophies. Under Klopp, Liverpool won the Premier League to break a 30-year drought and lifted the Champions League trophy for the sixth time. While no fee was paid to Red Bull, the DFB will donate one million euros ($1.1 million) to Red Bull’s Wings for Life charity, which funds spinal cord injury research. DFB President Bernd Neuendorf noted that the arrangement was necessary to ensure Klopp could provide his full concentration to the national team.
Klopp faces a significant challenge in restoring Germany to the pinnacle of international football. Despite their history of four World Cup titles and three European Championships, the team has struggled, winning only one knockout match across three World Cups and two Euros since reaching the Euro 2016 semi-finals. He will work alongside sporting director Rudi Voeller; the 1990 World Cup winning striker has been the team's sporting director since autumn 2023 and whose contract runs for another two years.
The new manager aims to build his squad around young talents like Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala, both 23. He must also manage a veteran core, including captain Joshua Kimmich, who will be 33 by Euro 2028, and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who returned from international retirement at age 40 for the recent World Cup. Klopp’s first squad will be unveiled in mid-September ahead of four Nations League matches, beginning with a fixture against the Netherlands on September 24.
However he warned the assembled reporters that "if you tomorrow you start saying: 'He's crap', then I'm off".
Having repeatedly said his time in the dugout was over, Klopp returns with the mammoth task of returning the struggling Germans to the top of the international game.
