Coaching legend Jürgen Klopp: Does his new job make him a globetrotter?

Coaching legend Jürgen Klopp (57) has made his announcement at the beginning of the year come true: After years of successful work as a coach at various traditional football clubs, he is taking a break from his job on the sidelines. It has been known for a few hours that he has signed a “long-term” contract as “Global Head of Soccer” at Red Bull in Salzburg, Austria. only for the DFB national coach position after Julian Nagelsmann (37). His contract runs until the 2026 World Cup.

Jürgen Klopp – an unusually loyal coaching soul

Jürgen Klopp is one of the few star coaches who has never been on the back foot of the leagues and who has not constantly sought new challenges. From 2015 until the end of the season in May 2024, he coached Liverpool FC. He led the Reds to the Champions League title in 2019 and a year later to their first championship title in 30 years. In doing so, he created a monument for himself in the British city of 500,000 inhabitants.

The Stuttgart native also received a similar wave of enthusiasm and deep fan love as in the central English coastal town in his previous coaching position. He worked as a coach at Borussia Dortmund for seven years from 2008 to 2015. The Black and Yellows won two championships and a cup final under his leadership. Here, too, there was deep shock when he announced his move.

He also has years of commitment to his first head coaching position. From 2001 to 2008 he coached the professional footballers at FSV Mainz 05 – he was also active there as a player from 1990 to 2001.

Lead bull in Salzburg football “on a global level”

Now Jürgen Klopp is off to the gigantic brewery company in picturesque Salzburg as the “leader in the football sector”. How often he will actually be on site with the Mozartstadters is still unclear, after all he is joining in “on a global level”.

“By joining Red Bull on a global level, I want to develop, improve and support the incredible football talent we have at our disposal,” : “Together we can discover what is possible. I see my role primarily as a mentor to the coaches and management of the Red Bull clubs, but ultimately I am part of an organization that is unique, innovative and future-oriented.”

The Red Bull clubs are currently in Salzburg (since 2005 “FC Red Bull Salzburg” and since 2012 “FC Liefering”), New York (since 2006 “New York Red Bulls”), São Paulo (since 2007 “Red Bull Brasil” and since 2020 “Red Bull Bragantino”) and Leipzig (since 2009 “RB Leipzig”). Should Klopp carry out his mentoring role at all of these coaching and management locations, he will have a real globetrotting job ahead of him in the coming months to years.

Even a globetrotter needs a home

And where will Jürgen Klopp be at home then? He and his second wife, the social worker and children’s book author Ulla Sandrock, are said to have spent relaxing hours on the island of Sylt for many years. , the Klopp villa on the North Sea island is said to have been “sold long ago”.

Instead, construction is taking place near the family in Wiesbaden – Klopp has a son from his first marriage, born in 1988, and his second wife brought another son into the marriage, who has now made her a grandmother. According to information from the “Wiesbadener Kurier”, Klopp and Sandrock have been having a two-story building built in the posh Sonneberg district of the Hesse state capital since spring 2023. The keys are expected to be handed over this year.

And a Klopp residence is also to be built on Germany’s favorite island, Mallorca: As the “Mallorca Magazine” reports, a property in Santa Ponça is supposedly being converted. The finca has been in Klopp’s possession since 2022 and is to be transformed into an “ecological family paradise”.