Jürgen Klopp takes charge of the German national team and signs a contract through the 2030 World Cup
The German Football Association officially appointed Jürgen Klopp as the new head coach of the men's national team on July 24, 2026. The 59-year-old coach signed a four-year contract at the DFB campus in Frankfurt, valid until the conclusion of the 2030 World Cup, and will formally take up his duties on August 15. His arrival marks a return to day-to-day coaching work after more than two years away from club football and opens a new chapter for the four-time world champions, who failed to achieve a result consistent with their historic status at a third consecutive World Cup. According to the DFB's official announcement, the supervisory board and the shareholders' meeting of DFB GmbH & Co. KG unanimously supported the proposal put forward by association president Bernd Neuendorf and first vice-president Hans-Joachim Watzke. Klopp will lead Germany at the 2028 European Championship and, should the national team qualify, at the 2030 World Cup, whose main hosts will be Morocco, Portugal and Spain, with three centenary matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Klopp succeeds Julian Nagelsmann, who stepped down on July 3 after Germany were eliminated by Paraguay in the round of 32 at the 2026 World Cup. Germany drew 1-1 after extra time in the Boston area on June 29, before Paraguay won the penalty shootout 4-3. Julio Enciso gave the South American national team the lead in the 42nd minute, Kai Havertz equalized in the 54th, but the German side failed to capitalize on its considerable territorial dominance and greater number of chances. FIFA's data show that Germany had significantly more possession, passes, entries into the final third and shots toward goal, but the Paraguayan defense withstood the pressure. The defeat further intensified the debate about the decline of a national team that has not won a World Cup knockout match since claiming the title in 2014.
Klopp: The national team can bring the country together
At his presentation in Frankfurt, Klopp emphasized that managing the national team represented a special professional and personal responsibility for him. According to the DFB statement, he said that the national team could bring people in Germany together like few other things and that this was precisely why the new job was exceptionally important to him. He stressed that the coaching staff would approach the task with humility and patience, with the aim of building a team that would play with energy, mutual responsibility and a recognizable competitive character. Such wording is consistent with Klopp's established coaching identity, in which intensity, collective discipline and the team's emotional connection with the crowd were as important as tactical structure.
DFB president Bernd Neuendorf described Klopp as the association's first and unquestionable choice following Nagelsmann's departure. According to him, the DFB was looking for a person capable of combining elite expertise, credibility and the ability to rally the public around the national team during a period of intense pressure for results. Hans-Joachim Watzke, who worked closely with Klopp at Borussia Dortmund, said the new head coach ranked among the best coaches in the world and knew how to improve players, lead a group and create a shared objective. Sporting director Rudi Völler particularly highlighted Klopp's work with young footballers and his experience of managing teams in matches at the highest level.
Klopp takes over the national team at a time when expectations remain exceptionally high, but consistent results at major tournaments have been absent for a long time. Germany were eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup in 2018 and 2022, while at their home European Championship in 2024 they showed progress but were stopped in the quarter-finals by eventual champions Spain. At the 2026 World Cup, they defeated Curaçao and Ivory Coast, lost to Ecuador and ended their campaign against Paraguay in the first knockout round. For the association, Klopp's appointment is therefore not merely a change on the bench, but an attempt to restore sporting authority and confidence in the national-team project.
The coaching staff brings together familiar associates and a former international
Peter Krawietz, Pepijn Lijnders and Sven Bender will join Klopp on the coaching staff. Krawietz has been his long-time associate since the Mainz period and later worked with him at Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool. Lijnders was also an important member of Klopp's staff in England, where they won the Champions League together in 2019 and the English league title in 2020. The DFB states that, before joining the national team, the Dutch coach worked as Pep Guardiola's assistant at Manchester City, while Krawietz arrives at the association following an engagement with Red Bull.
Sven Bender brings a different profile and a direct connection to the German national team. The former midfielder made seven appearances for the senior national side and, after his playing career, worked with the DFB's youth teams, Borussia Dortmund and Unterhaching. His experience should be important in connecting the head coach's staff with young players and in understanding the specific nature of the international schedule, in which there are often only a few training sessions available to prepare for matches. The combination of Klopp's trusted associates and a coach familiar with the association's structure suggests that the DFB wants the new staff to adapt as quickly as possible.
At the same time, the DFB also announced an important change in sporting management. Per Mertesacker, a 2014 world champion and long-serving director of Arsenal's academy, will become managing director of sport at DFB GmbH & Co. KG on January 1, 2027. According to official information, he will be responsible for the national teams and the academy and will succeed Andreas Rettig, whose contract expires at the end of 2026. Mertesacker played 104 matches for Germany, participated in several major tournaments and, after ending his playing career, gained eight years of experience in developing young footballers at Arsenal. His appointment shows that the DFB does not view Klopp as an isolated solution, but as part of a broader reorganization of the sporting system.
Agreement with Red Bull enabled an earlier departure
Before taking charge of the national team, Klopp had worked as Red Bull's head of global soccer since the beginning of 2025. In that role, he did not manage a single team on a daily basis, but participated in developing football strategy, advising clubs within the international network and coordinating working models with coaches and sporting directors. It was his first engagement after leaving Liverpool in May 2024, when he explained that, after almost nine seasons, he no longer had the energy required to continue working at the same intensity. His return to the national-team bench will therefore also be a test of his adaptation to a different rhythm, with fewer daily training sessions but concentrated pressure during short competitive periods.
The DFB and Red Bull reached a special agreement that allowed Klopp to leave his contract early and focus fully on the national team. According to the German association's announcement, the DFB will organize three men's national-team matches in Leipzig by the end of 2030 and will pay one million euros to the Wings for Life foundation for spinal cord injury research. The association emphasized that it did not want the new head coach to have divided responsibilities and that managing the national team required complete concentration. Red Bull executive Oliver Mintzlaff confirmed that he was initially dissatisfied with Klopp's intention to accept the DFB's offer, but that, following discussions, a solution was supported that enabled him to make the move without parallel obligations.
Such an agreement demonstrates the political and sporting importance the DFB attached to the appointment. Following Nagelsmann's departure, the association very quickly opened talks with Klopp, and by mid-July it was announced that Neuendorf and Watzke had held an intensive meeting with him in New York. Less than two weeks later, the contract was signed in Frankfurt. The speed of the process suggests that the DFB did not want a lengthy transitional period or an interim head coach, but clearly defined leadership before the beginning of the new Nations League cycle and preparations for Euro 2028.
First tests against the Netherlands, Greece and Serbia
Klopp will officially begin work on August 15 and will manage his first match on September 24 against the Netherlands in Amsterdam. Three days later, Germany will play Greece in Augsburg, which will be his first appearance in front of a home crowd in the role of national-team head coach. A match against Serbia in Munich will follow on October 1, followed by another away match against Greece in Thessaloniki on October 4. The DFB confirmed that all four matches would be played during the same international window, immediately imposing a demanding schedule on the new coaching staff.
The first cycle will not provide much time for experimentation. Klopp will have to quickly assess the balance between experienced leaders and younger players, determine the hierarchy in defense and midfield, and find an attacking structure capable of converting possession and territorial dominance into a greater number of high-quality chances. Ineffectiveness against Paraguay's low defensive block was precisely one of the key problems at the World Cup. According to FIFA's statistics, Germany attempted 21 shots, took 16 corners and recorded a large number of attacking entries in that match, but hit the target only six times. An important task for Klopp will therefore be to develop more varied solutions against teams that defend deep.
His football is traditionally associated with aggressive pressing after losing possession, vertical attacks and the powerful use of intensity. Such ideas are more difficult to automate in international football than at club level because the number of training sessions is limited and the players arrive from different systems. Klopp will therefore probably have to simplify some of his principles and adapt them to the available squad. At the same time, his authority and experience from Champions League finals could help raise the confidence of a team that has been eliminated much earlier than expected at the last three World Cups.
The coach who defined Mainz, Dortmund and Liverpool
Klopp's coaching career began at Mainz, the club where he had previously spent most of his playing career. There, he built a reputation as an innovative coach and a powerful communicator and led the club into the Bundesliga for the first time. He then took charge of Borussia Dortmund in 2008 and created a team that won two consecutive German championships, in 2011 and 2012, as well as the German Cup in 2012. Under his leadership, Dortmund also reached the Champions League final in 2013, where they lost to Bayern Munich.
He joined Liverpool in October 2015 and, over almost nine years, transformed the team into one of Europe's leading clubs. Under his leadership, Liverpool won the Champions League in 2019, the club's first Club World Cup in the same year and the Premier League in 2020, ending a 30-year wait for an English league title. Domestic cups were also won, and in several seasons the club contested close title races with Manchester City. Liverpool's official records list seven major trophies during Klopp's tenure, while his influence extended beyond results because of the way he rebuilt the relationship between the team, the stadium and the supporters.
With the national team, he will not have the opportunity to shape players daily or enter the transfer market, but he will have a broad selection of footballers from the Bundesliga and Europe's leading leagues at his disposal. His task will be to identify a clear core from the existing pool, stabilize the defense and define an identity capable of withstanding different types of matches. The contract through 2030 gives him time for two major tournaments, but public expectations will probably take shape much earlier, through the first performances and the way the team responds to his leadership style.
Euro 2028 as the first major objective
The first central objective of Klopp's tenure will be the 2028 European Championship in the United Kingdom and Ireland. By then, Germany will have approximately two years to build the team, resolve personnel questions and integrate a new generation of players. Per Mertesacker's role should further emphasize the connection between the academy, the youth national teams and the senior side. In this way, the DFB is attempting to align the short-term goal of a recovery in results with the long-term development of players who could reach their peak by the 2030 World Cup.
The pressure will nevertheless be immediate. Germany are one of the most successful national teams in history, with four world titles and three European titles, so their prolonged absence from the latter stages of the biggest tournaments is viewed as a systemic problem rather than merely a temporary results crisis. Klopp's appointment brings a major name and a strong initial boost, but in itself it does not resolve the issues of chance creation, defensive stability, penalty taking and psychological resilience in knockout matches. It is precisely his ability to translate his club success into an international context that will determine whether this project becomes a genuine turning point.
By choosing a contract through 2030, the DFB has clearly demonstrated that it is not seeking an interim solution. Klopp receives a mandate long enough to rebuild the structure, but also the responsibility to return Germany to the group of national teams that remain in the final stages of major tournaments. The first answers will arrive as early as late September in Amsterdam, while the longer-term picture will take shape through qualifying, Euro 2028 and the development of the generation expected to compete for the title at the 2030 World Cup. For German football, this is the most high-profile national-team coaching appointment in recent history, and for Klopp it is an opportunity to conclude his career on the greatest international stage after his successes in Mainz, Dortmund and Liverpool.
Sources:
- German Football Association (DFB) – official announcement concerning Jürgen Klopp's appointment, contract, coaching staff, statements and first matches (link)
- German Football Association (DFB) – details of the agreement with Red Bull, matches in Leipzig and the payment to the Wings for Life foundation (link)
- German Football Association (DFB) – official announcement concerning the appointment of Per Mertesacker as managing director of sport from January 1, 2027 (link)
- FIFA – official record of the Germany-Paraguay match at the 2026 World Cup and the statistical data from the match (link)
- FIFA – official announcement concerning Julian Nagelsmann's departure following Germany's elimination from the 2026 World Cup (link)
- Liverpool FC – official overview of Klopp's tenure, coaching career and trophies won with Liverpool (link)
- Red Bull – official information about Klopp taking over as head of global soccer at the beginning of 2025 (link)
- FIFA – official information concerning the hosts of the 2030 World Cup and the three centenary matches in South America (link)