I never felt like world-class coach, says supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Klopp

Despite leaving Liverpool as one of the most highly regarded coaches in world football in 2024, Jurgen Klopp said he never thought of himself as among the game’s best.

“I never considered myself a world-class coach,” Klopp told AFP and other media in an interview in Leipzig, “because I still had so many questions when I finished.”

“I was like ‘how can I be world class with these questions still?’”

After starting out at Mainz, where he took the club to the top flight for the first time, Klopp moved to Borussia Dortmund, where he won two Bundesliga titles and reached the 2013 Champions League final.

After signing with Liverpool in 2015, Klopp’s Reds won every trophy on offer, including the Champions League and Premier League.

In his new role as Red Bull’s global head of football, where he oversees a multi-club structure with teams including RB Leipzig, New York Red Bulls and Paris FC, Klopp said that he wants to help coaches answer those questions.

“My role with the coaches is to be the guy I never had. I sat in my office very, very, very often, very, very, very alone.

“A lot of people gave me advice and have great ideas... It’s great to have ideas, but it’s really not that easy to make the final decision.

“I want to be in moments when I know they are alone, or feel alone. I want to be there.”

Klopp oversaw the firing of then-Leipzig coach Marco Rose, a long-time friend, in 2025 and said that being on the other side felt odd.

“Grave-digger of the coaches -- that’s a title I never wanted to win!”

From taking Mainz to the Bundesliga to breaking Liverpool’s Premier League drought, Klopp improved clubs and players wherever he went.

Often taking over with teams at a low ebb, the coach would try and put things in perspective.

Agencies