Red Bull and Jurgen Klopp

Halfway through his final season in charge of Liverpool, day-to-day management had clearly begun to take its toll on Jurgen Klopp.

“It’s no longer about training,” sighed the German coach. “It’s just recovery and then meetings, that’s how it is.” Three weeks later, confirmed Klopp who would step down as Liverpool boss at the end of the 2023/24 campaign. After a summer enjoying his longest break from management since taking charge of Mainz in 2001, Red Bull has introduced Klopp as its new “head of global football”.

Here’s what that big, vague title means for a former executive who has plenty more meetings to navigate when he takes up the role in early 2025.

Klopp’s brief is broad but relatively simple. The former manager of Borussia Dortmund – a club that has routinely and vehemently protested Red Bull’s investment across the world of football – will oversee all clubs under the energy drink umbrella.

Red Bull’s press release explains that Klopp “will not be involved in the day-to-day operations of the clubs, but will provide a strategic vision, supporting individual sporting directors to advance the Red Bull philosophy.” The German’s sphere of influence will also extend to scouting, player training and coaching development.

Ralf Rangnick was previously Red Bull’s head of global football before embarking on a disastrous interim stint as Manchester United manager The tactician first took on a sporting director role at RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg in 2012, installing a high-energy style of football with young players scouted from underrated areas, particularly in Africa.

“The style of play should be highly recognizable,” Rangnick said The voice of the coaches“so much so that, even on a bad day, you can still recognize the type of football the team wants to play.”

This is not the first time Klopp has followed in Rangnick’s footsteps. The “heavy metal” pressing than the first Liverpool The boss has based his philosophy around being introduced to the German football public by Rangnick. The former Hoffenheim manager first encountered the benefits of working against the ball when his sixth-tier side, FC Viktoria Backnang, played a friendly against Valeriy Lobanovskyi’s Dynamo Kyiv in 1983. “In the boss of a few minutes,” Rangnick recalled, “I had to stop and count their players. Did they have 13 or 14 men on the field?

Klopp had said he was “running out of energy” when he left Liverpool and he has be under criticism of fans who were surprised by this unforeseen career move. The 57-year-old explained his decision: “By joining Red Bull at a global level, I want to develop, improve and support the incredible footballing talent we have at our disposal.”

On the specifics of his role, Klopp said: “I see my role primarily as a mentor to the coaches and management of the Red Bull clubs, but ultimately I am part of a unique, innovative and forward-looking organization “.

Red Bull’s managing director of Corporate Projects and Investments, Oliver Mintzlaff, called Klopp “a game changer”, citing his managerial track record as well as his “extraordinary skills and charisma”.

It’s easy to spot a club owned by Red Bull. Each franchise’s name, shirt sponsor and color scheme are inspired by the energy drink company founded by Dietrich Mateschitz and Chaleo Yoovidhya in 1984. Three of RB’s four top-tier clubs play in stadiums called Red Bull Arena.

Salzburg was Mateschitz’s first football investment in 2005. The club had previously been known as Austria Salzburg – and even carried the prefix “Casino” at one point – but the fans didn’t like it the radical changes made by Red Bull, especially the abandonment. the traditional purple stripe in favor of red and white. Salzburg had won three league titles in their 72-year history before RB and have won 14 in the two decades since. However, the club’s ten-year grip on the top-flight crown was broken in 2023/24 by Sturm Graz.

Red Bull branched out into the U.S. in 2006, but hasn’t had nearly the same success. The New York Red Bulls have only reached the MLS Cup once since taking over and are still waiting for their first major piece of silverware. The Brazilian branch of the multiclub projectformed by Red Bull Bragantino and the secondary team of the club operating in the third category, it was only launched in 2019.

Bundesliga contenders RB Leipzig are the most prominent and controversial branch of the Red Bull dynasty. The East German side was reborn in 2009. Red Bull circumvented the country’s famous 50+1 rule – which theoretically prevents corporations or wealthy individuals from owning a majority of a club’s shares – by ensuring – I know that most of the members of the club were employees of Red Bull. .

Brand names are prohibited in the Bundesliga so the “RB” in RB Leipzig does not represent the fizzy drink empire. Instead, Leipzig’s prefix is ​​”RasenBallsport”, which literally translates to “grass ball sports”, but was only applied because it shares the same initials.

After stunning the Bundesliga with an impressive second-place finish in his debut season in the German top flight in 2016/17, with Rangnick in charge, the project stalled until Julian Nagelsmann was appointed, bringing Leipzig in the semi-final of the Champions League 2020. final and another runner-up in the Bundesliga the following year.

Leipzig have evolved beyond the pressing football that underpinned their rise up the footballing pyramid to develop a competence in possession. The two-time DFB Pokal winners have finished in the top four of the Bundesliga at the end of each of the last six seasons, a feat that only Bayern Munich have also achieved. Part of Klopp’s brief will no doubt revolve around helping Leipzig finally win their first Bundesliga title.

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