“I didn’t want it”: Klopp speaks for the first time about the offer to become DFB coach
In the year before the European Championships at home, Germany is looking for a new national coach – and the preferred candidate of many: Jürgen Klopp. The then Liverpool coach now explains why he didn't want to take the job.
Jürgen Klopp could have become the celebrated German national football coach at the European Championships on home soil – but when the DFB was looking for a new coach in 2023, the iconic coach stayed with struggling Liverpool FC. Now the 58-year-old has spoken about his decision at the time.
"The previous season didn't go so well for Liverpool – and in the summer after that season, Germany was looking for a new national coach. I could have said 'yes,' because it might have been better to do something different," Klopp told "Welt am Sonntag."
He decided otherwise. "I didn't want it. And the decision wasn't about the job of national coach per se. I couldn't leave Liverpool like that. There was a team there, there were people I had a relationship with," Klopp explained.
He wanted to "reset things again" at Liverpool with new players and the core team. "That was important to me. We managed it. Nevertheless, the decision to retire from Liverpool matured."
At the end of January 2024, Klopp announced his departure from the club at the end of the season. The team ultimately finished third in the Premier League and won the League Cup. In the season following his departure, Liverpool, under new coach Arne Slot, became champions. The German national team suffered an unfortunate quarterfinal defeat to Spain at home under Julian Nagelsmann, but still thrilled German football fans.
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