"A lot is at stake" and there's "a lot of work" ahead, Klopp said after Germany crashed out in the last 32 against Paraguay. He said it in general terms. Everyone knew he was talking about himself.
Three weeks on from that exit — Germany's third straight World Cup disaster — the German Football Association (DFB) is finalising the appointment. A press conference on Thursday or Friday is expected, with Klopp confirmed as national team coach through to 2030.
How the deal came together
The first serious meeting happened in New York, more than a week ago, between Klopp and DFB president Bernd Neuendorf and his deputy Hans-Joachim Watzke — the man Klopp worked under at Dortmund for years. An agreement in principle was reached there. Since then, the sticking point has been Klopp's existing contract with Red Bull, where he serves as Head of Global Soccer until 2029. DFB officials have met with Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff, and Klopp himself has too. The fine print is being sorted.
Klopp is still in the country covering the World Cup final as a pundit for MagentaTV. Whether he says anything on air Sunday, after watching Argentina and Spain contest the trophy Germany haven't lifted since 2014, will be telling.
What actually needs fixing
Jürgen Klinsmann didn't mince it: Germany are "absolutely mediocre, completely lost somewhere" and the programme has been handled wrong for years. That's a former World Cup-winning coach and manager talking, not a pundit with a hot take. He pointed to Argentina as the model — disciplined, ruthless, hard to play against. Virtues Germany used to own.
Philipp Lahm, who lifted the trophy in 2014 as captain, was equally direct. "We have been falling behind for 10 years because we are not adapting to current developments," he said, calling out the Bundesliga's recent flirtation with man-marking as exactly the kind of inward-looking tinkering that's left Germany behind the curve. No experiments in unfamiliar positions. Clarity. Order.
Klopp's arrival will generate genuine excitement — his track record at Dortmund and Liverpool speaks for itself, and his ability to build identity and belief in a squad is real. But this is a different job. International management is slower, the margins for tactical development are tighter, and Germany's squad has structural issues that won't be solved by enthusiasm alone. Anyone backing Germany for 2026 should price in at least a full cycle of rebuilding before expecting results.
Klinsmann's verdict on Klopp is probably the most accurate thing written about this appointment: "He has the energy and the positive attitude to bring other people on board." Whether that's enough to drag Germany back to a World Cup final is the question that won't be answered for years.
