When Jurgen Klopp walked away from Liverpool in May 2024, he insisted he needed rest, not another dugout. Two years later, the man who reshaped English football has resurfaced in the most unexpected role of all, as the new Klopp Germany coach, signed to a contract that runs all the way to 2030.

At a press conference in Frankfurt on Friday, Klopp said he was "delighted" to take the job and admitted the weight of it had only grown once he stepped inside.

"I had an idea how big the job is, but when you are involved you feel the responsibility even more," he said. "It is a very special day for me."

This is the first national-team post of Klopp's career, and it arrives during a bruising stretch for German football. Julian Nagelsmann quit after Germany fell in the last 32 of the World Cup, losing to Paraguay in June, and the DFB moved quickly to secure the coach it had wanted from the outset.

Just before Klopp faced the cameras, the German federation's supervisory board and wider stakeholders held a digital meeting to sign off on the appointment. As Germany's new head coach, he becomes the 13th man to hold the post, inheriting a team searching for its first knockout win at a World Cup since the 2014 triumph.

Why Klopp Left Red Bull Behind

Klopp had spent the past 18 months as global head of soccer for the sports arm of drinks maker Red Bull, a sprawling brief that gave him oversight of clubs from RB Leipzig to New York.

Reports from the German news agency dpa suggest Red Bull agreed to a swift release, and Klopp himself confirmed the move only after sitting down with the group's sports boss, Oliver Mintzlaff.

It was, on paper, an unlikely fit from the start. Fans in both Germany and England were stunned when Klopp joined Red Bull in January 2025, given his roots at clubs like Mainz, Dortmund and Liverpool that pride themselves on fierce supporter culture.

Reports indicate his contract even carried an exit clause allowing him to take the Germany job whenever Nagelsmann eventually moved on.

Klopp's Germany Contract And Coaching Staff

He arrives with a formidable trophy record and a familiar backroom team. The 59-year-old won two Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund in 2011 and 2012, then the Champions League with Liverpool in 2019 and the Premier League a year later.

His long-time assistants Peter Krawietz and Pepijn Lijnders have been approved by the DFB, alongside former Dortmund defender Sven Bender.

From January, Germany's 2014 World Cup winner Per Mertesacker, who ran Arsenal's youth academy for eight years, joins as the federation's managing director for sport.

What Klopp Faces In Nations League

Klopp's contract formally begins on August 15, but there is little time to settle in as the new Klopp Germany coach. His first fixture in charge comes on September 24, away to the Netherlands in Amsterdam, opening a demanding Nations League run.

That stretch amounts to four games in 11 days against the Netherlands, Greece and Serbia across late September and early October.

Beyond it lie qualifying campaigns for Euro 2028 in the British Isles and the 2030 World Cup, the tournaments on which this new era will ultimately be judged.

The famously ebullient German was noticeably measured in Frankfurt, even a touch flinty. "On the day you don't want me anymore, tell me and I'm gone," he said, before warning reporters, "If you misbehave and don't leave my family alone, I'm gone."

Amid talk that Germany no longer possess a single world-class talisman, Klopp framed his task as building something collective. "As a coaching team we want to produce a package," he said. "We are all ready."

For Australian fans who watched his Anfield years, and with the Socceroos on their own qualifying path, tracking the new Klopp Germany coach project as it builds toward 2030 promises to be one of football's more compelling storylines this cycle.