Former Liverpool head coach Jürgen Klopp has been appointed Germany manager – but warned that he would step down if media scrutiny becomes toxic.
The 59-year-old succeeds Julian Nagelsmann, who resigned amid heavy criticism following a shock penalty shoot-out defeat to Paraguay in the last 32 of World Cup 2026.
Klopp returns to coaching having recently served as Red Bull’s head of global soccer after leaving Liverpool in 2024, where he won the Premier League and Champions League among other major trophies across a legendary nine-year spell.
His first match in charge of Germany will come against the Netherlands in the Nations League on September 24.
‘It is an honour’
According to Sky Sports, Klopp stated in a press conference after being unveiled: “It is my mission to make the national team squad a better team and hope the pool for me to choose from will be bigger.
“But it is not something I am doing against you – I am doing it for you.
“It is an honour. I will be remunerated very graciously and if tomorrow Jürgen Klopp is sh*t, I will be gone.
“If the DFB says, ‘let us discontinue the job,’ then that’s it.
“And if you behave badly and don’t leave my family in peace, I’ll be gone. I’ll just turn away.
“I know there are other countries where national team head coaches are treated even worse. I love this job, but I am also ready to call it quits if needs be.”
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Klopp teases ‘intense football’
On the high expectations surrounding the national team, he added: “Jürgen Klopp being in the job doesn’t automatically mean we’re going to be world champions.
“Success is performance vs expectations – we need a new set of expectations.
“We don’t want to play like Argentina, Spain, England or France. We want to play like Germany, do it the German way but very intense.
“Are we the number one team at the moment? No, we aren’t. I accept that. At the moment, we have 11 teams ahead of us.
“We can beat them, but for this to happen, you need to play very good, intense football.”
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