Jurgen Klopp will make his return to football in the new year when he takes on the role of Red Bull’s head of global soccer. The German has been out of work since leaving Liverpool in May but will take on a strategic role within the stable of clubs at the energy drink conglomerate from January.
“After almost 25 years on the sideline, I could not be more excited to get involved in a project like this,” said Klopp. “The role may have changed but my passion for football and the people who make the game what it is has not.”
Klopp will not have a day-to-day role within the group, which includes Bundesliga side RB Leipzig and perennial Austrian title contenders Salzburg, but will “provide strategic vision, supporting individual sporting directors in advancing the Red Bull philosophy,” according to an announcement from Red Bull. The 57-year-old will be formally unveiled at a press conference in January.
Reports in his homeland suggest that Klopp’s new role will include an exit clause that would allow him to take the Germany job, currently occupied by Julian Nagelsmann, contracted through to the end of the 2026 World Cup. The revelation of this new role will also come as a disappointment to those who hoped the former Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund boss might have been persuaded to take the vacancy with the England national team.
“By joining Red Bull at a global level,” said Klopp, “I want to develop, improve and support the incredible football talent that we have at our disposal. There are many ways that we can do this from using the elite knowledge and experience that Red Bull possesses to learning from other sports and other industries.
“Together we can discover what is possible. I see my role primarily as a mentor for the coaches and management of the Red Bull clubs but ultimately I am one part of an organization that is unique, innovative and forward looking. As I said, this could not excite me more.”
Klopp will be reunited with Pepijn Ljinders, his assistant at Liverpool between 2018 and 2024 who is now in charge of Salzburg. The head coaches of RB Leipzig and New York Red Bulls — Marco Rose and Sandro Schwarz — will both be familiar to their new boss. Schwarz and Klopp played together at Mainz, Rose was one of Klopp’s mainstays when he took the club up to the Bundesliga.
“We are very proud of this outstanding and certainly the strongest signing in Red Bull’s soccer history,” said Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO corporate projects and investments at Red Bull. “Jurgen Klopp is one of the greatest and most influential figures in world soccer, with extraordinary skills and charisma. In his role as head of soccer, he will be a game changer for our involvement in international soccer and its continued development. We are hoping for valuable and decisive impulses in key areas to make the clubs even better, both collectively and individually.”
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