When the 2015 2016 football season gets underway in late August, the game will be missing one of its greatest and most vital voices. This Jurgen Klopp career review will track this popular football manager's career to date. Following two long coaching stints at FSV Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, Klopp will be taking a sabbatical next season. Originally, Klopp was ready to leap right back into the fray following his departure from Borussia Dortmund. He no longer felt he was the best coach for the job at BVB after the club's disappointing seventh place finish in the 2014 2015 Bundesliga.
He at first insisted that he wouldn't be taking a break, and that he would be considering other coaching opportunities for the 2015 2016 season. Quickly, Jurgen was linked with possible moves to Liverpool and Real Madrid. Ultimately, though, the 47-year-old manager decided to change his mind on the idea of a sabbatical. "It makes sense to take a break after seven intensive years," he said.
He's not wrong. Klopp has been one of the busiest men in football since taking the job at Borussia Dortmund back in 2008. Before that, he spent another seven years at Mainz. And before that, he had played for Mainz from 1990 to 2001. Bottom line, Klopp hasn't taken a break from soccer for as long as many of his players at BVB have been alive.
Early Days
In an era where soccer players and managers tend to move from one club to the next every few years, Jurgen Klopp has had a remarkable amount of consistency throughout his career-both as a player and as a manager.
After a youth career that spanned from 1975 to 1989, Klopp signed with FSV Mainz for the 1990 1991 season to start his senior career. Initially, Klopp played as striker for the club, but switched to a defensive position halfway through his time there. By the time he retired as a player in 2001, he had made 337 appearances and scored 52 goals in domestic play. He is one of the relatively few footballers who played his entire senior career at a single soccer club.
The Move to ManagementÂ
Even more rare, Jurgen was immediately appointed as manager at FSV Mainz following his retirement as a player. While he had been good as a player, he was even better as a head coach, leading Mainz to their first-ever promotion to the Bundesliga in 2003 2004. (The football club had played in 2. Bundesliga for the entirety of Klopp's senior career.)
FSV Mainz didn't immediately find success in the top flight, but Klopp did manage to dodge relegation for a few years. In both 2005 and 2006, the club finished in 11th place on the standings table before falling back down into the red zone with a 16th place result in 2007. Jurgen stuck around for another year to try to get the soccer club back into the top flight. Mainz ultimately missed out on promotion by just few points, coming in fourth in the 2007 2008 campaign. Klopp resigned his position as head coach following the disappointing season.
Still, Jurgen's impact at FSV Mainz cannot be overstated. The very next season, the soccer team was promoted back up into the Bundesliga. They haven't been relegated since, and have now enjoyed six solid seasons in a row in the division. In 2011, they even made it into the top five.
Borussia DortmundÂ
Undoubtedly, the crowning achievement of Jurgen Klopp's career has been managing Borussia Dortmund. In fact, Klopp is arguably the greatest manager in BVB's history, having coached the team to two back-to-back Bundesliga victories (in 2011 and 2012), one DFB-Pokal victory (in 2012), two Supercups (in 2013 and 2014) and one runner-up finish in the Champions League (in 2013).
Understandably, Jurgen has been regaled with praise and honors since taking the Borussia Dortmund job in 2008, including German Football Manager of the Year titles in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, FIFA even voted him the second best football manager in the world-behind then-Bayern Munich manager Jupp Heynckes.
If there is one black mark on Klopp's resume, it was this last season at BVB. However, even in the darkest days, Jurgen's talent has shone through, helping the wearers of the Borussia Dortmund shirt 2014 2015 rally from a last-place position in the middle of the season to a seventh place finish at the end of it. He even got BVB to the finals of the 2014 2015 DFB-Pokal, beating Bayern Munich in the semifinals to get there.
Needless to say, Jurgen Klopp's presence will be missed in the football world during the 2015 2016 campaign. Suffice to say, though, that he has truly earned the vacation. Celebrate his legacy at BVB by grabbing a Borussia Dortmund jersey from Soccer Box, the 2014 - 2015 away shirt is currently 20% off!
Jurgen Klopp Career Review To Date
June 26, 2015