It was Saturday, and Jurgen Klopp essentially had a day off in New York, or at least several hours to spare. Jet lag had him awake by 5:30 AM ET, just in time to see phone notifications that RB Omiya Ardija, a Japanese second-division team, had fallen 2-0 early but rallied to win 4-3. There was enough time in the day to watch RB Leipzig`s 1-0 victory over Wolfsburg, stroll down Fifth Avenue, wander through Central Park, scout out gummy bear shops at Sports Illustrated Stadium before the New York Red Bulls` clash with New York City FC – and come to a realization.
“A year ago, or whenever it was, I would have been at Crystal Palace and had to explain why we lost. I was so happy! I was so happy I didn`t have to do that,” he cheerfully admitted during an exclusive 45-minute interview with CBS Sports, pausing to reflect on Liverpool`s defeat that very day. “That`s why this afternoon I`m walking through Central Park and thinking, `Yes! Perfect decision.`”
Klopp`s Saturday offered a welcome change of pace for the former Reds manager, whose weekends once revolved around a match for which he bore “1000% responsibility,” especially if his team lost. In the year and a bit since leaving Anfield, he has taken on a new role as Head of Global Football at Red Bull, a move he says makes perfect sense for all parties involved. His tactical vision aligns with his new employer`s, who also benefit from the prestige of his title-winning reputation, while Klopp himself stays busy in a job that shares many similarities with the coaching roles that built his name. From an outsider`s perspective, this isn`t typically the kind of job a manager of his caliber takes while still at the peak of his game, but he insists it is not a form of retirement. Nor is this new position a placeholder for an eventual return to coaching on his own terms.
“I miss nothing,” he said about coaching. “I didn`t miss it from the first second.”
“I Will Not Go Back” to Coaching
When Klopp announced in January 2024 that he would leave Liverpool after nearly a decade at the club, the news surprised many. The Reds were still heading in the right direction, going on to win the EFL Cup that season, reaching the quarterfinals of the FA Cup and the UEFA Europa League, and finishing third in the Premier League. Managers rarely quit while ahead in this sport, and Klopp was truly among the elite when he made the decision to step away.
Reflecting on his past, however, makes his decision to withdraw easy to understand. Klopp held his hands close to his chest, slowly bringing them together as he described his previous pre-match feelings.
“I don`t miss sitting on the bus or coach on the way to the game and feeling my chest constricting,” he said. “You think, `I know it`s only football,` but my body just doesn`t understand it. The pressure is massive, massive, massive, and even though I`m not completely done and I know there are more important things in life, it`s still huge because you want to do well, you want to do it right, you want to do it for the people, you want to win, whatever. You just want to enjoy what you are doing.”
More than two decades after taking his first managerial position at Mainz in 2001, he stated without hesitation that one of sports` most demanding jobs had finally taken its toll.
“I could have stayed at Liverpool. Somehow, I would have gotten through that season. If someone asked me a silly question, I wouldn`t have been strong enough to say anymore, `I know where you`re coming from.` I would have just gone for him, her, whatever. `That`s enough!` My bottle or glass, whatever, was truly full,” he said, using his hands to illustrate that one more drop would have caused an explosion. “Anyway, I loved everything about it until I couldn`t do it anymore, so that`s that.”
When he finally left his post at Liverpool, his body responded accordingly.
“I hadn`t been ill for 24 years or whatever, so I finished with Liverpool,” he recalled. “I think two or three weeks later, the Euros started. We had tickets for all of Germany`s group games, we had an option, so to speak, for all subsequent stages if we progressed. I went to the first game, and then I was sick like I`ve never been sick before in my life. Two weeks, couldn`t lift my head. `Can you please turn off the light?` It was crazy – headache, fever, in the middle of summer. I hated myself so much. I was so desperate for life. I couldn`t move my head! What`s going on here? That`s not fair. Not everything in my life has to be perfect and the best, but this isn`t fair, so my body needed two weeks or so.”
Three league titles in two countries, one UEFA Champions League title, over 500 career wins as a manager, and one brutal cold later, it`s clear Klopp has nothing left to prove. Yet he insists there`s nothing he particularly misses about his old responsibilities. A year`s distance from the touchline hasn`t made the heart grow fonder; instead, it has reinforced the decision he made in the winter of 2024.
“From some perspectives, I`m an old man,” the 58-year-old said. “That means if I look at my grandkids, they look at me like an old man, but in the business, there are older people still working than me… If I had to make the decision today for my entire whatever, I would say `no.` I will not go back, but looking at Carlo Ancelotti, I don`t even know how old he is, maybe 65 or something like that. That would mean I have seven years to change my mind, so I probably cannot say 1000% that I won`t coach and won`t be back, but right now, I miss nothing. I enjoy what I`m doing. I don`t want to stop working at all. I never wanted to. I just wanted, needed something else.”
That “something else,” in his case, is a job at Red Bull where he has the best of both worlds – enough work to keep him busy with the most appealing aspect of a work-life balance that is usually a non-starter for a professional coach.
“We go on holiday when we want and not when we are allowed to,” he said. “You can organize everything like that, and we have Mario Gomez, he will take over. He can go on holiday, I can go on holiday, one of us is here and doing the job, informs the other. The world won`t change overnight just because we are somewhere for a week, and that`s how it should be, and it never was, and now it is like that.”
The presumed “middle-ground” job is a national team post – a role Klopp has never held before, but one that has recently attracted respected club managers from various parts of the world. At next summer`s World Cup, Mauricio Pochettino will lead the U.S. men`s national team, Thomas Tuchel will guide England, Carlo Ancelotti will be at Brazil`s helm, and Julian Nagelsmann will continue his spell in charge of Germany. None of them had previous experience coaching national teams, their reputations instead built on success in Europe`s top leagues, just like Klopp`s.
Klopp himself was linked to the USMNT and England jobs before formally joining Red Bull, declining both offers as he took a break from the game. His sabbatical now complete, the former Liverpool boss said he still can`t speak to the appeal of a national team role despite the influx of club-level managers, nor does he actually consider it a less demanding job.
“No idea,” he said with a big laugh, pondering why club managers have taken international postings in recent months. “I really don`t know. As a footballer, if someone had told me I had the chance to become a German international, honestly, I don`t know what I would have done for it. Really? What do I need to do? What do I need to sell? My soul? It`s crazy how much I dreamt of it – everyone in football. It`s crazy, and a coach isn`t exactly the same, but if you want to, so to speak, serve your country, I understand that, and it would be a huge honor, but for me, so far I`ve never been in that situation. I had a contract with a club, and I have, not a contract, but at this moment, I truly can`t see myself as a coach, and it`s not an idea, [I`m] not [like] children sitting in the corner saying, `I don`t want to do that.` It`s just that I know what I need to do it. I need to be on top of my game. If I`m not that, I`m not good. If I`m not good, why should I do it? It makes no sense. That`s the reason.”
Klopp isn`t exactly angling for the Germany job after the World Cup, either.
“The job, in my understanding, is an intense job, being the national coach,” he said. “People say, `Oh, he only works every three or four weeks and so on, and he brings players together, and they`re all good players, so I don`t know.` I never really thought about it. I am Julian Nagelsmann`s biggest supporter. I am. I hope Germany becomes world champions, and he signs for a few more years.”
Coaching “in a Different Way”
Klopp`s weeks-long cold in the summer of 2024 led him to two conclusions: first, that he missed nothing about coaching; second, that he needed something else to occupy his time.
“I realized relatively quickly, even though I greatly enjoyed the time off, that this was just the longest vacation of my life, not the future,” he said. “I won`t do nothing. I adore my grandkids – right arm, left arm, if you need it, take it, no problem, but 24/7? Are you kidding me? Sitting in the corner building a house, and then he destroys it? Oh, come on!… It`s wonderful. It`s wonderful, but not 24/7.”
He was unveiled as the Head of Global Football at Red Bull in October before formally beginning the role in January, a job he described as “like being a fan with more say.” His say is quite significant – Klopp has been tasked with mapping out and implementing a tactical vision for the company`s international network of clubs, four of which are majority-owned, three in which Red Bull holds a minority stake, and one – Red Bull Salzburg – where the company is its main sponsor. It`s a first-of-its-kind role at Red Bull, a rare oversight position even if multi-club ownership models are all the rage in football, and energizing enough in its own right for a “true mastermind of the game,” according to Gomez.
“This is a role at Red Bull that has never existed in this form before, within a truly attractive club network,” Gomez told CBS Sports. “Here, he has the chance to shape something new, to decisively drive development forward, and to leave his mark. His approach fits perfectly with Red Bull, because throughout his coaching career, he has always developed teams and clubs. What impresses me most: he wants to keep learning every single day. And with this mindset, he inspires everyone else to do the same – to learn.”
Klopp said he was a natural stylistic fit for Red Bull because “my life was like the Red Bull philosophy. It`s about being perfectly organized against the ball, these kinds of things, high-intensity, these kinds of things.” However, this isn`t the only commonality between Klopp and his new employer.
“The life of a Red Bull football team is like my life was as a manager for most of my career,” he explained. “When you play a really good season, other teams will buy your best players. We are not the biggest fish in the sea. It was only the last four, five years at Liverpool where it was different. Before that, we played exceptionally, and someone would pick Robert Lewandowski, Philippe Coutinho, whoever it was, Nuri Sahin. You`d say, `Oh, my God, where are you going?` Mario Gotze. That means you have to deal with that, and that`s how I created a philosophy, and this philosophy fits really well with Red Bull football teams.”
Klopp describes his philosophy as two-fold. The general philosophy “is we want to be the talent pool for – I don`t want to use the word `football,` but for football,” primarily by developing young players. The concept is admirable, but in the murky multi-club ownership landscape, there`s a perceived illegitimacy when the idea is put into practice. Klopp isn`t particularly bothered by the criticism.
“I know I said in Germany in my first press conference that I want to give people wings,” he said. “People might say it`s a bit cheap to use the company`s slogan, but if I`m 1000% honest, it`s in me. I always wanted it. I always wanted young players and to make them fly, so now I say I want to give them wings, and it`s the Red Bull slogan; you can say it`s cheap, but it was just there. … I know what people think about MCOs. It`s like just money, it`s like swapping players from A to B. It doesn`t happen. It really doesn`t happen. It`s difficult right now, and it`s not really what we do here.”
That`s where the playing philosophy comes in – and where Klopp slips back into coach mode.
“The playing philosophy is a philosophy based on stability, because if you want to give young people the chance to develop, you have to ensure they are not constantly overwhelmed,” Klopp said. “They are not ready for that. They would never say it aloud, but inside, we all have that voice – are we really ready for that? Not sure, so you create an environment and a foundation that is really stable, and on the football pitch, it`s about how you defend, and if everyone gets that… Great, and now fly, and now jump, and now be brave, and now nothing can happen because as long as we do all these kinds of things, you can be the bravest team on the planet because if you make a mistake, no problem, but you make it roughly 70, 80 meters away from our goal, you have opportunities to win the ball back until it happens here. You can really go crazy – nutmeg, backheel, whatever. Do. Be free. Show your talent.”
Klopp said he is “not the guy who tells everybody how to do it exactly” but rather introduces an idea to a coach, true to form for someone who “sees himself as a mentor and sparring partner,” per Gomez. The ebullience that has always shone through in his frequent media opportunities as a coach and during this 45-minute chat is just as apparent to Gomez, who repeatedly emphasizes Klopp`s warmth. His glass may have been full little more than a year ago, but Klopp seems to exude enthusiasm these days, perhaps the result of achieving the work-life balance that eludes so many of us.
“He is highly focused, committed, and at the same time super empathetic,” Gomez said. “He brings everyone along and makes them feel, `Hey, I`m here for you – reach out to me anytime.`… He has an incredible ability to connect with people. He is straightforward and totally direct, yet always respectful. And he leaves every meeting filled with positive energy and motivation for everyone involved. I truly value his outstanding soft skills.”
Klopp`s leadership style appears to be a patient one, insisting on several occasions that things won`t “happen overnight,” though he has already put some ideas into motion. He said it was his idea for the Red Bull teams to play with back fours this season, including New York, which played with five at the back en route to the MLS Cup final in 2024.
“You might remember, when I arrived, we played with five at the back, a different way,” he said. “For the new season, we all play four at the back, and then it`s either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1. On some days, a proper 4-4-2, no problem, but we have to agree on a few things, and the thing is, look out there, the best teams in the world play with wingers. An old system was like 4-2-2-2. The wingers were the fullbacks, but no. There`s a good reason why, it would be much too long – I could write a book about that, by the way – so you need players in that area; it doesn`t have to be always the same, and first and foremost, the players have to be able to defend in that position. In a 4-3-3, my two wingers were – most of the time at Liverpool – Sadio Mane and Mo Salah. World stars still had to run their socks off, so for that, everybody else supported them and threw them in front of the goal and made them score, so this is the common idea.”
Style of play, as it always has, reigns supreme at Red Bull, to the point that Klopp argued it holds more weight in managerial decisions across the company`s network of clubs than it would at most of their counterparts.
“If we sack a manager, for example, I want to do that for the right reasons, and if we employ a manager, I want to do that for the right reasons,” he said. “Usually in that situation, you change the manager because the results aren`t right, rarely because the style of play isn`t right. Mostly the results, and the next one who comes in, you sign under pressure. It`s like, `Oh, my God! We have to sack the manager! Who`s on the market? Nobody. We have to sack him anyway! Wow! Who do we bring in?` What is that? Who is that? He coached five years ago somewhere. That`s the guy you take, and we don`t want to do that. The next thing, we already know in the future we need more coaches, so we try to scout coaches all over the world. We are out there. Nobody cares about it because we are used to bringing them in under pressure. That`s how it goes, and usually it works, somehow, a breath of fresh air, all these things.”
Having a say in managerial hires – and departures – is perhaps the greatest distinction between Klopp`s previous responsibilities and his current tasks, especially for someone who “did what somebody else said over the last 25 years, and I just got used to it.” He may have his Saturdays mostly to himself these days, but some routines stay the same. He said he watches the same amount of football as he did before; it`s just that the teams are different. His staff is made up of Thomas Tuchel`s former assistant Zsolt Low and his own ex-assistant Peter Krawietz, who also take in every game a Red Bull team plays, not as “the judges,” but sharing information with managers “if he needs it, because in the ideal world, no coach needs it.”
In short, the Red Bull job scratches his coaching itch just fine.
“I manage. The only thing is I`m not on the pitch. Sometimes I stand on the side,” Klopp said. “I`m not coaching, but I pretty much do, in a different way.”
