Jurgen Klopp reaches agreement on key terms to become Germany national team head coach

A deal in principle

On Friday, DFB president Bernd Neuendorf and vice-president Hans-Joachim Watzke met Juergen Klopp in New York for the first in-depth talks about the national team job. After the meeting, the DFB announced that an agreement on the key points of a potential contract was reached.

During the constructive exchange, an agreement was reached on the key points of a potential contract. Talks will continue next week.

Both sides are confident negotiations can be concluded successfully, subject to an agreement with Klopp's current employer, Red Bull. A contract finalisation requires approval from the DFB's supervisory board and shareholders' meeting. The deal would likely run until 2030, covering the 2028 European Championship and the 2030 World Cup.

Klopp's path back to management

Klopp, 59, has been out of front-line coaching since leaving Liverpool at the end of the 2023/24 season. He took up the post of Red Bull's global head of soccer in January 2025, overseeing a network of clubs in Austria, Germany, Brazil, the United States and Japan. During the World Cup he worked as a pundit for Magenta TV, where he caused a stir by suggesting Deniz Undav should start ahead of Jamal Musiala and later quipped that Nagelsmann was "still picking the team - for now." He apologised, calling himself "an idiot," and said the remark "just slipped out." Earlier this year he said he was "more than recharged" and ready to return, and recently confirmed the talks. In a broadcast he said:

I need to talk to Oliver Mintzlaff. He's my employer. We've already texted things. I assume he's not in the way. Ideally, there are only winners in the end. Red Bull must come out of the number clean.

Pep Lijnders, who was Klopp's assistant at Liverpool, has also agreed to join the new coaching team.

Nagelsmann's departure and Germany's decline

Julian Nagelsmann resigned on 3 July after Germany's World Cup campaign ended in the last 32 with a penalty shoot-out defeat to Paraguay. The four-time world champions had topped their group but lost their final group match to Ecuador and then crashed out. It was the third consecutive disappointing World Cup for Germany, following group-stage exits in 2018 and 2022. Nagelsmann initially said he would like to continue and had a contract until 2028, but the DFB and coach parted ways within days. The DFB statement at the time said Klopp had "already indicated his fundamental readiness to take over the position."

Next steps and first fixture

Talks are set to continue next week, with key outstanding points being Red Bull's release and the DFB's internal ratification. Klopp said he had already texted Red Bull's corporate projects chief Oliver Mintzlaff and believed he would not stand in the way. If a full agreement is reached, Klopp's first match in charge would be a Nations League fixture against the Netherlands in Amsterdam on 24 September.