Former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund boss Jürgen Klopp has no intention of returning to coaching but has not completely ruled it out.
Asked in an interview with the Athletic on Tuesday if he was certain he would never be in the dugout again, he replied: “That’s what I think. But you don’t know. I’m 58. If I started again at 65, everybody will say, ‘You said you’ll never do it again!’ Er, sorry, I thought 100% (when I said it)!
“That is what I think now. I don’t miss anything.”
He added that he was glad to have more free time having felt burnt out previously.
“During almost 25 years, I twice went to a wedding — one of them was mine and the other one was two months ago. In 25 years, I have been four times at the cinema — all in the last eight weeks. It’s now nice to be able to do it,” said Klopp, who was also coach of Mainz for over seven years. He then spent seven years at Dortmund and nine at Liverpool.
“I was in so many different countries as a coach and I saw nothing of them; just the hotel, the stadium or the training ground. Nothing else. (Now) I can go on holiday. And I decide when.”
Red Bull backlash
After leaving Liverpool at the end of the 2023-24 season, he took a break before being named in January as Red Bull’s global head of soccer, looking after the energy drink brand’s teams across the world.
He was heavily criticized at home for joining an empire which many traditional fans despise.
“I knew it (would come),” he said. “I’m German. I know what people in Germany think about the involvement of Red Bull in football. Funnily enough, it was only in Germany where the reaction was like that.”
In a rare interview, he lifted the lid on decisions he helps make at Red Bull, including sacking friend Marco Rose as RB Leipzig coach and ordering changes to New York Red Bull’s new training facility.
He is also involved with transfers and uses his star power to call players and get deals over the line.
Despite winning two Bundesliga titles with Dortmund and a Champions League and Premier League with Liverpool, Klopp is bemused by his wide acclaim as a coach. He pointed to three Champions League final defeats, one for Dortmund and two for Liverpool.
“You look at my career, there are much more successful careers than mine,” he said. “But I had it all.
“I lost more Champions League finals than most people play.”
