From putting back life to the yellow wall after a fast decline in the league to winning the English premier league title with Liverpool, their first in the last 30 years, Liverpool and former Borussia Dortmund manager, Jurgen Klopp is currently regarded as one of the best coaches in world football.
From learning the popular “Gegen pressing” tactic, (a popular football tactic amongst German managers) under Ralf Rangnick to standing on the touchline against Ralf’s team, Jurgen Klopp has had a long time in world football, being in management for over 20 years now, and in this three years, boasting of several trophies.
Here, I will be sharing with you everything that you need to know about the teams that have been coached by Jurgen Klopp thus far in his managerial career. This article is a breakdown of the teams that the German international, Jurgen Klopp has managed to coach in his coaching career and his exploits at each of these clubs.
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- Mainz (2001 – 2008)
- Borussia Dortmund (2008 – 2015)
- Liverpool (2015 – Present)
Jurgen Klopp Teams Coached
1. Mainz (2001 – 2008)
Tasked with the job of taking the German club to the Bundesliga after several years of being out of German top-flight football, Jurgen Klopp decided to take the Mainz job upon his retirement from professional football at Mainz in 2001.
Before taking on the Mainz 05 job in 2001, Jurgen Klopp had previously spent almost a decade of his football career playing career for the German side, where he was often used as a striker, and also as a defender whenever the team was low on defenders, or when most of the team’s center backs were injured.
The German was appointed as the manager of Mainz on 27th February 2001, where he had to replace the “sacked” manager, Eckhard Krautzun. Prior to his appointment, the club had just finished 9th in the 2.Bundesliga.
Regardless, upon his appointment, the inexperienced Jurgen Klopp went on to win 6 out of seven games at the club, and ended the season in 14th place, just enough to save the club from being relegated.
The 2003–04 season became the turning point for the club and for Jurgen Klopp personally, as he had successfully managed to take the club to the Bundesliga, by ending the season in third place, after finishing 4th consecutively in the previous two seasons.
However, in the 2006–07 league season, Jurgen Klopp got relegated with Mainz. Although the manager wanted to stay and try to bring the club back to top-flight German football, he had to leave the next season.
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2. Borussia Dortmund (2008 – 2015)
After consecutive 13th-place finishes under their manager Thomas Doll, Borussia Dortmund decided to turn to former Mainz manager, Jurgen Klopp to replace the dismissed manager, Thomas Doll. Despite strong interest from Bayern Munich, Jurgen Klopp signed a two years contract with the yellow wall.
In his first season at the club, Jurgen Klopp led the club to a sixth-place finish and also won his first trophy as a manager. This was the 2008 German super cup when Dortmund (under Klopp) defeated Bayern Munich.
At the end of the 2010–11 Bundesliga season, Jurgen Klopp had also added the Bundesliga title to his trophy cabinet with two games left to play. They were also able to defend their league title in 2011-2012, thereby winning the Bundesliga title in a row and with a young Borussia Dortmund squad.
Later in 2012, Jurgen Klopp led the club to the DFB-Pokal final, where they defeated Bayern Munich 5-2 to win the trophy. Close to the end of the 2014-2015 leave season after losing key players to league rivals, Bayern Munich, Jurgen Klopp decided it was time to leave the club. However, this was not before the club suffered a bad run of form.
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3. Liverpool (2015 – Present)
Having made the announcement to leave the yellow wall, Jurgen Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015, in what was supposed to be an “exciting project”. During his press conference, the German manager called himself “the Normal one”, a satire of José Mourinho’s 2004 ” Special One” press conference.
In his first full season at Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp made an 8th-place finish. However, he managed to play in the UEFA Europa League final that same season with Liverpool, although he eventually lost 3-1 to the Spanish side, Sevilla.
During the 2016-2017 league season, Liverpool managed to make a fourth-place finish, thereby securing a place in the UEFA champions league. At the beginning of the 2017-2018 league season, the German manager gave a debut to English right-back, Alexander Arnold who by then, was part of Liverpool’s academy.
That season, Liverpool made great exploits in the UEFA champions league, albeit they lost against Real Madrid in the final.
The next season after signing Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson Becker, Jurgen Klopp won his first UEFA Champions league title with the club, edging past league rivals, Tottenham Hotspur thanks to goals from Mohammed Salah and Divock Origi who were key in Liverpool’s comeback against Barcelona at Anfield in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
The manager later went ahead to win Liverpool’s first league title in thirty years during the 2019-2020 season and several other domestic trophies in the 2021/22 season.
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Fast forward to the present and you will see that the German and his Liverpool side are having a mixed 2022/23 season, with suggestions from various quarters that his time with the Reds may have come to end. Well, it remains to be seen if this will be the case eventually or if his die will bounce back in style;e before the January Winter Transfer window.
Conclusion
Known for achieving success even with a tight budget right from his time at Mainz, Jurgen Klopp is one of the top coaches that has been able to carefully utilize the “Gegen pressing” model, a football tactic akin to most German managers.
His success at the clubs he has managed, Mainz 05, Dortmund, and Liverpool have boosted his managerial CV greatly.
Kenneth is a an avid soccer follower, fan and writer. He is a consistent follower of the sport and is a fan of Chelsea FC.