“If you go after my family, I’m gone”: Klopp’s Germany unveiling is unlike any press conference ever

Last Updated on 24 July 2026

Jurgen Klopp sat down in Frankfurt this morning and did something no newly appointed international manager has ever quite done before.

He told Germany’s football public exactly what he thought of them, warmly, bluntly and with the kind of disarming honesty that made him one of the most beloved managers of his generation.

The DFB officially confirmed his appointment as Bundestrainer this morning, signing him until the next World Cup, the job the German public has wanted him to take for the better part of a decade. He arrived with conditions attached.

Jurgen Klopp: The most honest unveiling speech in managerial history

Klopp’s words at the press conference were, by any measure, extraordinary. “I’m not doing this job for myself. I’m doing it for you. I’m taking this job even though I’ve seen how you’ve treated Julian Nagelsmann. I’m taking it even though I’ve seen how you’ve treated Thomas Tuchel.”

He paused. “If you go after my family, I’m gone. If you think I’m rubbish, tell me to my face and I’ll leave immediately, without asking for any compensation.” The room fell completely silent. And then the applause started. But he was also measured throughout the conference, too.

“The national team can connect us Germans like hardly anything else. That’s exactly what makes this task so special for me. I’m looking forward to this special task in German football, which we will approach together with humility and patience.”

But it was the unscripted words that will be replayed for years. Klopp has watched the treatment of his two closest managerial contemporaries. Recently, Nagelsmann hounded out after a penalty shootout defeat to Paraguay, Tuchel before him barely given time to breathe.

DFB president Bernd Neuendorf said afterward: “We at the DFB were unanimous in saying he was the candidate we had to talk to. He was our ideal solution from the start.” And, that’s what majorly the German fans wanted, too. They have their man, now.

Klopp’s German deal, the staff and the road to 2030

Klopp and DFB finalized the agreement after a secret meeting in New York with Red Bull boss Oliver Mintzlaff during the World Cup final week. There, the DFB also agreed to make a donation to the Red Bull foundation as part of releasing Klopp from his role.

Pepijn Lijnders, Peter Krawietz, Sven Bender and Pep Mertesacker will join his coaching staff. It’s a team that blends Liverpool-era loyalty with German football intelligence. Germany are one of the most successful sides but have not progressed beyond the Round of 32 since 2014.

The task is enormous. Klopp has never managed a national team. He begins work immediately, with the Nations League group stage resuming in September. He was pitchside during the World Cup first as a pundit, then as the man Germany most desperately wanted.

He told the room in Frankfurt he was doing this for them. He also told them, with unmistakable clarity, that there are limits and that he has learned from what happened to the men who came before him. Germany finally have their Klopp.