2026 World Cup: Germany Gets a New Look After Its Failure—Jürgen Klopp Takes the Helm

Jürgen Klopp is Germany’s new head coach: the decision, which had been in the works for several days, was officially announced by the DFB, the German Football Association, on Friday. Klopp takes over for Julian Nagelsmann, who, following the team’s failure at the 2026 World Cup, decided by mutual agreement with the federation’s leadership to step down.

“Jürgen Klopp is the new head coach of the German national team,” reads the DFB’s brief statement. “He will be assisted by assistant coaches Peter Krawietz, Pepijn Lijnders, and Sven Bender.” Krawietz and Lijnders worked alongside Klopp at Liverpool, while Bender—known for his playing career at Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen—is coming off a coaching stint at Unteraching in the Regionalliga Bayern (the fourth tier of German soccer).

Born in 1967, he played professionally from the second half of the 1980s through the early 2000s, Jürgen Klopp began his coaching career immediately after retiring as a player at Mainz, leading the Red-and-Whites to their historic first promotion to the Bundesliga at the end of the 2003–2004 season and to their first European qualification the following year.

From 2008 to 2015, he then coached Borussia Dortmund, winning the league title twice (in 2010–2011 and 2011–2012), the German Cup once (2011–2012), and the German Super Cup twice (2013 and 2014). Finally, from 2015 to 2024, he managed Liverpool, leading the team to one Premier League title (2019–2020), one Champions League title (2018–2019), the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup in 2019, two English League Cups (2021–2022 and 2023–2024), one FA Cup (2021–2022), and one Community Shield (2022).