Jürgen Klopp has signed a contract with Red Bull to be its global director of football from January 1, 2025. After his time at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, the German coach born in Stuttgart will not be on the bench, but will continue linked to the world of football. The coach, one of the most and best recognized, will advise all the teams that the Austrian energy drink company has: the Austrian Salzburg, the German Leipzig, the Brazilian Bragantino and the American New York Red Bulls.
This new role for the 57-year-old coach will not consist of day-to-day involvement with the clubs, but rather he will coordinate and give his vision to the sports directors of each team, their respective scouts and also the coaches. Klopp said in a statement that by joining Red Bull on a global scale he wants to “develop, improve and support the incredible football talent” they have at their disposal. “There are many ways we can do this, using the elite knowledge and experience that Red Bull has having learned from other sports and other industries,” he added.
The one from Stuttgart already made it clear after his departure from Liverpool in June that he would take some time and that he would not return to the bench, but not that he would leave the world of football. After a golden era at the English club, where he spent nine seasons, the German will look for new challenges. Klopp managed to return Anfield to its golden age, where it won eight titles: a Premier League in 2019 (the club had not won it for 30 years), a Champions League, a Club World Cup, a European Super Cup, an FA Cup, two UEFA Cups. League and a Community Shield.
19 years of Red Bull in football
The franchise is now celebrating 19 years in football, where it has won several titles and promoted clubs to the elite. Red Bull began in 2005 in its home, Austria, buying Salzburg, a club whose name was SV Austria Salzburg and which was founded in 1933. With this team it has won 14 League titles since its acquisition. From the 13/14 season they won all the leagues until last year when Sturm Graz took the trophy from them. They are already the third team with the most trophies in the Austrian Bundesliga (17), only behind Rapid Vienna (32) and Austria Vienna (24).
The next step was to buy the New York Red Bulls in 2006. The most they have achieved with this team was an MLS runner-up finish in 2008 and, two years later, they signed Henry from FC Barcelona.
The third club that the Austrian company incorporated was Red Bull Brasil, in 2007. This was its own creation, but after failing to achieve great results, in March 2019, it entered into an alliance with Bragantino. In his first appearance as Red Bull Bragantino, he was champion of Serie B and returned to the Brazilian elite after 22 years.
Finally, the acquisition of Leipzig, the most glorious next to that of Salzburg. In just seven years he rose from the German fifth division to the Bundesliga. The climb began in 2009 and, in the 15/16 season, they reached the top. Two seasons later they managed to play in the Champions League, in which in 2019 they reached the semifinals against PSG.
Klopp’s job will also consist of another specialty of the franchise teams, bringing out ‘diamonds’ as he has done with players like Erling Haaland, Nkunku, Szoboslai or Timo Werner.
