‘Recharged’—Jurgen Klopp Reveals What Has Changed Since Liverpool Exit, Stance on Germany Job

A team that once defined the World Cup has not won a knockout match in 12 years.

It could finally be time for Jürgen Klopp. | Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar/Getty Images

Jürgen Klopp has declared himself ready to be a soccer manager again, welcoming talks to become Germany’s next boss following yet more World Cup disappointment for the four-time champion.

Klopp left Liverpool in 2024, citing fatigue as his reason for stepping down. Since early 2025, he has held a less intense position as Red Bull’s head of global soccer. But a surprise namedrop from the German soccer federation (DFB) in a statement confirming Julian Nagelsmann’s resignation opened the door for Klopp and feels “more than recharged” and keen to step back in.

“The DFB leadership will now seek talks with Jürgen Klopp. He has already signaled his general willingness to take on the position,” the statement had read.

Given the opportunity to give his side of the story, Klopp said on Magenta TV in Germany: “I can confirm the talks. Julian has stepped down and the [federation] is working on the succession and has approached me in the course of those considerations.”

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Klopp Has Recovered From Liverpool Exit

Two years have passed. | Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Klopp is in a different place to when he walked away from Liverpool as the club’s most successful manager in decades. Upon leaving his post voluntarily, feeling drained and unable to carry on, the former Borussia Dortmund boss had been a club manager for 23 years—his only break came between leaving Dortmund and joining Liverpool in 2015, and lasted just four months.

Almost all of his time at Liverpool was also defined by an intense sporting rivalry with Pep Guardiola, who has himself also quit the Premier League due to similarly depleted energy.

“The timing even now is not perfect because I am currently under contract with Red Bull, but it is still better than it has ever been,” Klopp went on to explain. “When I stopped at Liverpool, I lacked the energy for even one more year with the club, and I’m more than recharged now.”

Klopp has long held a distant ambition to become Germany manager, often asked about it while he was at Liverpool and never ruling it out. During one particular interview in 2023, he tellingly said: “I could become Germany coach at some point. But it has to fit, and so far it hasn’t.”

Now, at least in terms of timing, it finally does fit.

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Klopp Demands ‘Intensive Talks’ Amid Need for Change

Klopp does not blame Julian Nagelsmann for what went wrong. | Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

What could yet prevent Klopp from becoming the new Germany boss is whether he can find common ground with the DFB about how the national team will be run.

Germany reached the semifinals or better at 10 of 13 World Cups from 1966 to 2014. Even within that run, an on-the-go rebuild made world champions in 2014 out of a nation humiliated at Euro 2004. But the current crisis is much deeper.

Die Mannschaft hadn’t been eliminated from the World Cup in the first round for 80 years when an unthinkable group-stage exit happened in 2018. But the same thing happened in 2022, before this summer’s round of 32 penalty shootout defeat to Paraguay marked another historic low.

Germany hasn’t won a World Cup knockout tie since lifting the trophy 12 years ago, nor has it fared much better in the last two European Championships (2021, 2024). It’s almost as though climbing to the top of the mountain in 2014 subconsciously led to taking a foot off the gas pedal.

“German football is obviously at a turning point,” Klopp said. “Now we need to change things fundamentally. Whether that’s me in the end or whoever it may be, that doesn’t change the fact that changes are necessary.

“The situation is such that I have an existing contract with Red Bull. As a person, I am usually very happy to keep contracts. But I have also said that I am very interested in the discussions. Those conversations will have to happen, and they will have to be intensive talks because, of course, the problems Germany were experiencing were not due to Julian Nagelsmann.”

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