"A lot is at stake," Klopp said shortly after Germany's World Cup exit. He said it in general terms. Everyone knew he was talking about himself.
The former Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool manager is on the verge of being confirmed as Germany's new national team coach, succeeding Julian Nagelsmann, who resigned after a last-32 exit against Paraguay — the country's third straight World Cup failure. An official announcement from the German Football Federation (DFB) is expected Thursday or Friday, with a deal believed to run until 2030.
The deal is nearly done
Talks began over a week ago in New York, where Klopp met with DFB president Bernd Neuendorf and deputy Hans-Joachim Watzke — a man he knows well from their shared Dortmund years. An agreement in principle was reached there. Since then, the DFB has also negotiated with Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff, because Klopp is still contracted to Red Bull as Head of Global Soccer until 2029. Klopp and Mintzlaff have since met directly. The remaining days have been spent on fine-tuning, with the contract still requiring sign-off from the relevant DFB bodies.
Klopp is still in the country as a TV pundit for MagentaTV, covering Sunday's World Cup final between Argentina and Spain. Whether he breaks his silence on the job before the cameras that evening is the one thing nobody knows yet.
Germany's problem is bigger than one appointment
Jürgen Klinsmann, who managed the national team himself, didn't sugarcoat the state of play: Germany are "absolutely mediocre, completely lost somewhere" and that "a great deal has been done wrong." He pointed to Argentina as a model of the mental qualities Germany once had — suffering, ruthlessness, the ability to generate respect — and said they've gone missing.
Philipp Lahm, who lifted the World Cup trophy in 2014, was similarly blunt. Ten years of falling behind. Players used in wrong positions. A stubborn attachment to tactical ideas — including the recent Bundesliga revival of man-marking — that the rest of the world has already moved past.
"If we continue doing this, we will continue to fail," Lahm said. That's the environment Klopp is walking into.
The reception to his appointment will be largely positive — Klinsmann believes Klopp has the energy and personality to launch a genuine reset. But some fans haven't forgotten his move to Red Bull, an organisation that still sits uneasily with a significant portion of the German football public. It's a minor note, but it's there.
For those watching Germany's World Cup qualifying odds or planning futures bets around the 2026 tournament, Klopp's arrival should sharpen expectations — though turning this squad around within two cycles is a structural challenge, not just a motivation one. His success at club level was built on time, recruitment, and identity. He'll have limited control over two of those three things.
Klinsmann's verdict on Klopp may be the most honest framing available right now: "He has the energy and the positive attitude to bring other people on board." For a group that looked like strangers in a shirt for the past three tournaments, that might actually be where it starts.
