🎥 How keen is he? Klopp reacts to Germany manager question | OneFootball

After Julian Nagelsmann’s resignation, football Germany is asking itself whether the top candidate to succeed him, Jürgen Klopp, is actually considering the job as Germany head coach. What would still need to happen for that, and whether there could be obstacles. In an interview with MagentaTV, Klopp answered questions at length. 

The interview with Jürgen Klopp in full

Jürgen Klopp, when asked whether there had already been talks with the DFB:

“Yes, I can confirm that, but I’ll need to go into the whole thing a little more broadly. It wasn’t that long ago that we were standing behind the goal during the penalty shootout (editor’s note: against Paraguay), and when Manuel Neuer saved the penalty, we all celebrated like crazy, were delighted, and were relatively sure that we’d go on to win it now because the momentum was on our side. Then about three minutes later, we had to realize that wasn’t the case after all. After that, everything picked up speed pretty quickly. I only want to express that I’m fully aware of how closely fortune and disaster lie together in football. If we had scored the next penalty and Paraguay hadn’t, we wouldn’t be standing here today. But now things are as they are. Julian has resigned, and the DFB is dealing with finding a successor, and in the course of those considerations they approached me.”

So these talks are taking place. What is still missing for an agreement?

Jürgen Klopp: “Time. The situation is that I have an existing contract with Red Bull. I’ve said several times how much I enjoy doing this job. As a person, I’m normally someone who really likes to honor contracts. But I’ve also said that I’m interested in the talks, because of course those talks have to happen first. They’ll have to be intensive discussions, because the problems we currently have are naturally not down to Julian Nagelsmann as a person. Julian is an exceptional coach, and he’ll get to prove that many more times in his coaching career. So we simply have to wait for the talks to some extent. Those are one set of talks, and then of course I also have to have the other talks with my employer, with Oliver Mintzlaff. Because I know that German football is also close to his heart, and accordingly he is very open to these talks. But they still have to take place.”

“In an ideal case, everyone comes out a winner from a story like this in the end”

What is the status of those talks—are there any obstacles?

Jürgen Klopp: “It’s difficult to get ahead of the talks, of course, but naturally we’ve already touched on a few things, and accordingly I don’t assume that. In an ideal case, everyone comes out a winner from a story like this in the end. That you can simply say, okay, Red Bull must be able to come out of this cleanly. I’ve already been there for 19 months, and the public may still be asking to this day what exactly it is that he actually does there. But it has been a very intense time. I’ve traveled all over the world, learned an infinite amount, gained a great deal of experience, and we’ve changed a lot of things. And it’s not that simple to just step away from that; it has to be clarified that things can continue.”

Is now the right timing for Jürgen Klopp to become Germany head coach?

Jürgen Klopp: “Even now it’s not perfect. Because I’m under contract with Red Bull. But it’s still better than it has ever been. And as far as I’m concerned—and there’s also this—I stopped in Liverpool about two years ago and said that I didn’t have the energy for another task or for another year with Liverpool. By now, I’m more than recharged. So I’m ready, I’m... But again, it’s a bit much. I just also wanted to use today to say that quite a lot is being written out there, and sometimes you can say something about it.”

How does Klopp assess the potential of German football?

Jürgen Klopp: “Well, I think, if you want to put it that way, it’s still a bit of an unhatched egg. It’s absolutely clear, as I said before, it’s not just about the head coach, definitely not. German football is naturally now at a turning point. We now have to fundamentally change things. Whether that ends up being me or whoever it may be changes nothing about the fact that those changes are necessary.”

As a possible future Germany head coach—what is he taking away from his work now as a MagentaTV pundit?

Jürgen Klopp: “Well, it definitely doesn’t make you any dumber, certainly not in my field. We’ve seen incredibly good football; we’ve also seen less good football. But it was always football, and there are always reasons for the performance you see. Sorry. And of course right now it’s like further training. So however things continue for me: I certainly won’t be any stupider after this World Cup. I’ll have learned quite a bit again, and of course that’s necessary.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Alexander Hassenstein - 2026 Getty Images