Jurgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool Football Club
Liverpool soccer team manager Jürgen Klopp will unexpectedly step down at the end of this season, according to an announcement made by the club on Friday. The charismatic German coach, who joined Liverpool in 2015, has had a remarkable tenure, leading the club to numerous victories. Under his guidance, Liverpool secured the European Champions League title in 2019 and the English Premier League title in 2020.
In addition to these prestigious achievements, Klopp’s Liverpool also triumphed in the FA Cup, England’s premier knockout competition, as well as the Carabao Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup. Explaining his decision, the 56-year-old, who previously managed Borussia Dortmund, expressed his love for the club, the city, the supporters, the team, and the staff. However, he admitted that he is running out of energy and believes that stepping down is the right choice.
Liverpool is owned by Fenway Sports Group, an American conglomerate founded by John Henry. This group also oversees Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox, the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins, and NASCAR’s RFK Racing. Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers at the helm in October 2015, when Liverpool was languishing in 10th place in the Premier League. In the following year, Klopp led the club to a fourth-place finish in his first full season in charge.
Since then, he has transformed the team into perennial title contenders, on numerous occasions narrowly missing out on the Premier League trophy to Manchester City. He has also become a cult icon in the team’s same-name home city and was awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool in 2022. Liverpool is the most successful club in English soccer by number of awards, winning 68 trophies over its 132-year history.
His successor in the job has yet to be announced, but Klopp still has plenty to play for this season. Liverpool currently lead the Premier League table with 17 games to go, and earlier this week cemented their place in the final of the Carabao Cup against Chelsea on Feb. 25. They face Norwich City in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Sunday.
“I’m like a proper sports car – not the best one but a pretty good one, can still drive 160, 170, 180 mph but I’m the only one who sees the tank meter is going down,” Klopp said in his interview for the club website “The outside world doesn’t see that, that’s good, so you go until as long as we have to go, but then you need a break. In this case, you need to go to the petrol station.”
