Jurgen Klopp is to return to football with a new role at Red Bull – and a link to Leeds United.
The former Liverpool manager left Anfield at the end of last season after almost nine years in the role but has been linked with a return to football ever since. The German has been most recently rumoured to be a target for Inter Milan, while links with the England job has persisted, too.
After just five months out of the game, however, Klopp is back – and it's not exactly the role many would have imagined.
Jurgen Klopp is Red Bull's new 'Head of Global Soccer'
After almost 25 years as a manager, Klopp is the new Head of Global Soccer at Red Bull. The German will take up the role on January 1, 2025, overseeing the energy drink's network of clubs.
Among the clubs, Red Bull have their flagship Bundesliga outfit, RB Leipzig, almost with Red Bull Salzburg and New York Red Bulls. The company also owns Red Bull Bragantino and Red Bull Brasil in Brazil – while over the summer, they invested in Leeds United, with their logo adorning the Yorkshire outfit's shirts.
Klopp will have contact with Leeds, as part of his new role. According to Red Bull's statement, “Additionally, the 57-year-old will support the organisation’s global scouting operation, and contribute to the training and development of coaches.”
In an interview with Sky Sports, Klopp claimed that if he were stuck on a desert island with any manager, he would choose either Pep Guardiola or current Peacocks boss, Daniel Farke, calling him “a really good guy”.
“By joining Red Bull at a global level, I want to develop, improve and support the incredible football talent that we have at our disposal,” Klopp said in his statement on Red Bull's website. “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 organisation that is unique, innovative and forward looking. As I said, this could not excite me more.”
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In FourFourTwo's opinion, this is an intriguing linkup that seems like a match made in heaven, given that Klopp's heavy metal philosophy lines up nicely with Red Bull's ethos on the pitch. The role will be seen by many in Germany to be extremely controversial, however, given that the Red Bull group are hated for the way they have flouted the 50+1 rule in German football.
Klopp has always been adored for standing with fans, at Liverpool – but also at previous clubs Mainz and Borussia Dortmund. Could some see him as a “sell-out” for going to work with Germany's most hated team, though?
FourFourTwo's German football expert, Ed McCambridge: RB Leipzig are the most detested team in German history
In 2009, SSV Markranstädt were taken over by Red Bull. In buying the Leipzig-based outfit, the global brand upset the entirety of German football by side-stepping the 50+1 rule in the country's league.
This rule ensures that that members of a German football club have the defining say on everything from top to bottom. When Klopp was the manager of Dortmund, there were almost 150,000 members who voted on matters, such as ticket prices, keeping a passionate, working-class Yellow Wall behind the team.
Leipzig have just 750 members: most of whom work for Red Bull and toe the company line. Klopp went from a “socialist” Dortmund to Liverpool, which is also seen by many as predominantly left-wing – yet RB Leipzig's board have previously ruled out anti-racism, anti-facism, anti-homophobia demonstrations as too political.
“RB Leipzig are the most detested team in German history, bar none,” FourFourTwo's Berlin-based Bundesliga expert Ed McCambridge said in 2020. “So much so, that fans of other clubs regularly boycott RB Leipzig matches. Those that do attend generally use the 90 minutes to demonstrate their displeasure and disrupt play in various ways.
“For all their on-field success, RB Leipzig will never be accepted by football fans in their own country; any achievements from here until the end of time will be discredited. Fathers taking their young children to their first games know, at some stage, they’ll have to explain why playing by the rules means their club can’t compete with a PR stunt. Nice guys finish last, kids. What a lesson for a new generation of fans.”
Is Klopp going to face a backlash back home for joining the Red Bull group? Or have opinions softened over the years?
