Date of birth:
16 June 1967
Nationality:
German
Playing career:
Glatten, Ergenzingen, Pforzheim, Eintracht Frankfurt, Viktoria Sindlingen, Rot-Weiss Frankfurt, Mainz
Coaching career:
Mainz, Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool
? Having spent his early career in the lower leagues and failed to break into Eintracht's first team, Klopp turned professional with Mainz,?starting off as a striker before becoming a no-nonsense defender.?Never played in the top flight but?made 325 second-division appearances from 1990 to 2001, setting a club record by scoring 52 goals.
??'Kloppo', as he is known in Germany, was appointed?Mainz's caretaker coach on 28 February 2001, helping the club avoid relegation to the third tier. Duly won a permanent contract and built Mainz into one of the strongest clubs in the 2. Bundesliga; narrowly missed out on promotion in 2002 and 2003 before finally taking Mainz into the top flight for the first time in 2004 and kept them in the Bundesliga until 2007, taking them into the 2005/06 UEFA Cup via the UEFA Fair Play ranking.
? After another promotion near-miss in 2007/08 Klopp left for Dortmund.?Took them to sixth in his first season,?led them into the UEFA Europa League the next year and then, with a squad full of exciting young talent,?oversaw league title wins in 2010/11 and 2011/12, adding the German Cup in the latter campaign with a 5-2 final victory against Bayern Munchen.
? Earned even greater admiration in 2012/13 as he steered Dortmund all the way to the UEFA Champions League final at Wembley, where they lost to Bayern. Dortmund reached another domestic cup final in 2014, but again came up short against Bayern.
? Announced in April 2015 he was leaving Dortmund after that season, which ended with a cup final defeat against Wolfsburg. Succeeded Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool manager in October 2015 and took the team to the finals of the English League Cup and UEFA Europa League ? helped by a quarter-final defeat of Dortmund ? in his first season. Lost both, and there was more final disappointment in 2017/18, which ended in defeat by Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League decider in Kyiv.