Jurgen Klopp sends firm warning after being confirmed as new Germany head coach

Jurgen Klopp has been confirmed as Germany's new head coach on a contract that runs until the end of the 2030 World Cup.

The 59-year-old won seven trophies during his nine years in charge of Liverpool before leaving the club at the end of the 2023-24 campaign after "running out of energy".

Klopp has since been working as Red Bull's head of global soccer, and it had been thought that he lacked the appetite to return to management.

However, speculation linking Klopp with the Germany position has gathered pace in recent weeks, and his arrival has now been confirmed.

“It’s a great honour for me to be sitting here today,” Klopp told reporters at a press conference. “This is ideally the high point of my career, of my life, my professional life. I will give it everything I have. The national team brings us Germans together like almost nothing else can. That’s what makes this task so special for me.”

Germany confirm Klopp as new head coach

Klopp also insisted that he would walk away from the job if critics behave inappropriately towards him or his family.

"If you behave badly and don't let my family in peace, I'll be gone. I'll just turn away. I know there are other countries where national team head coaches are treated even worse. I love this job but I am also ready to call it quits if needs be," he insisted.

Klopp also insisted that his presence is no guarantee of success.

"Jurgen Klopp being in the job doesn't automatically mean we're going to be world champions," added the ex-Liverpool manager.

"Success is performance vs expectations. We need a new set of expectations. Many people have asked themselves, are we as good as France? If the answer is no, then that is not necessarily true. If the question is, do we have players like [Ousmane] Dembele, [Bradley] Barcola, [Kylian] Mbappe? Then the answer is no, we don't, but we can still beat them.

Klopp will lead Germany at Euro 2028 and 2030 World Cup

"We don't want to play like Argentina, Spain, England or France. We want to play like Germany, do it the German way but very intense. Are we the number one team at the moment? No, we aren't; I accept that. Would we be happy to be the number two team? Then people would say we aren't number one.

"At the moment, we have 11 teams ahead of us. Yes, we can beat them, but for this to happen, you need to play very good, intense football."

Providing that they qualify, Klopp will lead Germany into Euro 2028 and the 2030 World Cup, and there will be pressure on the experienced manager to oversee a huge improvement given the national side's recent struggles.

Klopp's first game in charge of the German national team will come against Netherlands in the UEFA Nations League on September 24.