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Jurgen Klopp Gives Insight Into the Early Years of His Career After Winning FIFA Coach of the Year

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has given fans an insight into his life when he was younger, revealing how all his experiences have helped shape him into the manager which he is today.

The German was named as The Best FIFA Men's Coach of the Year for his fantastic work with Liverpool, having led the Reds to Champions League glory last season.

Writing for ​The Players' Tribune, Klopp was quick to deflect the praise away from himself, and instead credit his family and his life experiences for helping to transform him into an award-winning manager.


He said: "I am honoured to have won the FIFA award for best men’s coach last night, but I really don’t like to stand on a stage with a trophy all by myself. Everything I have accomplished in this game is only possible because of everyone around me. Not just my players, but my family and my sons and everyone who has been with me since the beginning, when I was a very, very average person.


"Honestly, when I was 20 years old, if someone came from the future to tell me everything that was going to happen in my life, I would not have believed it. When I was 20, I experienced the moment that completely changed my life. I was still a kid myself, but I had also just become a father. 


"It was not perfect timing, let’s be honest. I was playing amateur football and going to university during the day. To pay for school, I was working in a warehouse where they stored movies for the cinema. The trucks would come at 6am to pick up the new movies, and we would load and unload those huge metal canisters.


"I would sleep for five hours every night, go to the warehouse in the morning, and then go to class during the day. At night I would go to training, and then I’d come home and try to spend some time with my son. It was a very difficult time. But it taught me about real life.

"I had to become a very serious person at a young age. All my friends would be calling me to go to the pub at night, and every bone in my body wanted to say, 'Yes! Yes! I want to go!' But, of course, I couldn’t go, because I was not living just for myself anymore. Babies don’t care that you are tired and want to sleep until noon.

Jurgen Klopp

"When you are worried about the future of another little person who you brought into the world, this is real worry. This is real difficulty. Whatever happens on a football pitch is nothing compared to this.

"Sometimes people ask me why I am always smiling. Even after we lose a match, sometimes I’m still smiling. It’s because when my son was born, I realised that football is not life or death. We’re not saving lives. Football is not something that should spread misery and hatred. Football should be about inspiration and joy, especially for children."


Source : 90min