Jürgen Klopp, the German coach who decided to resign from Liverpool in England at the end of last season, surprised everyone by confirming that he will manage Borussia Dortmund once, albeit only for one match, the club from his homeland that brought him to worldwide fame.
Klopp will be one of the guest coaches to lead one of the teams in the farewell match that Dortmund will hold for two of its legends, the Poles Lukasz Piszczek and Kuba Blaszczykowski.
It should be remembered that the Poles were part of the Borussia team that Klopp took to the UEFA Champions League final in 2013.
In that match, held at Wembley, Klopp’s team came close to glory but fell in the final of Europe’s most important club tournament against Bayern Munich by a narrow score of 2 to 1.
The German coach left Liverpool at the end of the 2023-2024 season, citing exhaustion after many years in charge of clubs.
The 57-year-old was immediately linked with other teams with vacancies in their coaching ranks, including the England national team following Gareth Southgate’s resignation after the defeat in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin.
However, Klopp, in one of his latest statements during a talk at the German Football Coaches Association in Würzburg, ruled out returning to manage a team anytime soon and stated that “he did not decide to stop on a whim, but it was a general decision.”
“I am looking for peace and quiet; I am 100% focused on the here and now, and I am enjoying it. It was time to step aside and let everything rest,” Klopp said, adding that making an exception for a club or country “would be a great loss of prestige.”
The coach stated that he was enjoying retirement but would like to return to work in football at some point, even if his days on the sidelines are over. “I am too young to just play paddle tennis and spend time with my grandchildren,” he said.
“Coaching again? I would rule it out for now, but let’s see how the next months unfold. For now, there is nothing. I still want to work in football and help people with my experience and contacts. We’ll see what opportunities arise for me,” Klopp added.
Klopp, while at Liverpool, managed to win the Champions League in 2019, thereby settling the outstanding debt he had since 2013.