Jürgen Klopp: From the German second division to FIFA's 'Best'

After just four years at the club, it seems difficult to imagine a Liverpool without Jürgen Klopp. Having led the club to Champions League glory, Klopp is still looking for his first Premier League title, and based on their flying start to the season, this could be Liverpool's year. For their manager, it's been a long road that started...

... as a player in Germany's second division. Jürgen Klopp played professional football for 15 years, spending 11 of them in Mainz. He started out as an attacker but ended his career as a defender. He retired midway through the 2001-02 season to fill the coaching vacancy at Mainz after the club sacked head coach Eckhard Krautzun. As a player, he never made it to the Bundesliga.

During Klopp's playing career, Mainz frequently fought against relegation to the German third tier. That changed when he took the helm at the club. In Klopp's third season, Mainz earned promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in club history. Klopp enjoyed three seasons in the top flight before Mainz were relegated again in 2007. He left the club a year later to join Borussia Dortmund.

Klopp's appointment was part of a broader strategy change at Borussia Dortmund: to make football stars instead of buying them. He committed to 20-year-olds Mats Hummels and Neven Subotic as his center back pair — the youngest in the Bundesliga. Dortmund finished in sixth place and fifth place in his first two seasons at the club.

From 2010 to 2012, Klopp lead Dortmund to their most successful two-year stretch in club history. They won their first Bundesliga title in nearly a decade in 2010-11. Klopp backed that accomplishment up by leading BVB to their first ever domestic double the following season.

It didn't take long for Dortmund fans to fall in love with Klopp. His press conferences became a weekly spectacle and his energy on the touchline became contagious. On the pitch, he implemented an active, high-pressing system that brought BVB, a club that was only a few years removed from near insolvency, back to the pinnacle of German football.

Klopp did not secure domestic silverware after that two-year run, but he did lead Dortmund to the Champions League final in 2013 — their first final since their 1997 title. His side ultimately came up short against Bayern Munich, losing 2-1 late on to hand their German rivals a piece of their treble that year.

Klopp's last season with Dortmund in 2014-15 was far worse than any other. His side was second bottom at the winter break, though Klopp wound up leading them to a seventh placed finish. He did manage to get BVB to the German Cup final before losing to Wolfsburg. Dortmund and Klopp decided to part ways after the season, ending his seven-year stint with the team.

It didn't take long for Klopp to land back on his feet. Liverpool appointed the German coach in October of 2015, less than five months after he parted ways with Dortmund. In his first press conference, Klopp dubbed himself "The Normal One" — after being asked how he fitted in compared to the likes of Jose Mourinho, who notoriously once called himself "a special one."

Liverpool fans took to Klopp's highly animated coaching approach, but it didn't initally lead to success. The Reds finished eighth in the Premier League in his first season, though he did lead them to the Europa League final before losing to Sevilla. But he guided Liverpool to the Champions League with a fourth-place finish the following season before their third place finish this past season.

Much like he was in Dortmund, Klopp has become a club favorite at Liverpool. His passionate personality and the attractive attacking football enabled by players like Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane have proved a real hit in the stands.

In 2017-18, Klopp guided Liverpool to the brink of the biggest title in European club football. However, an injury to Mo Salah and two blunders by German goalkeeper Loris Karius put paid to Liverpool's hopes of winning the 2018 Champions League.

One year later it all came good for Jürgen Klopp. At the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid Liverpool won the 2019 Champions League, beating another Premier League outfit, Tottenham Hotspur, 2-0 in the final. This was his first trophy with Liverpool and his first Champions League title.

On the strength of having guided Liverpool to the 2019 Champions League title - and a second-place finish in the Premier League, Jürgen Klopp won the 2019 FIFA "Best" award in the coaching category, beating out Manchester City's Pep Guardiola and Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino.