‘He was very proud, but never said it’: One of the world’s greatest football managers explains how his father motivated him to work harder
The extraordinary successes achieved by some of the world’s greatest leaders can often be traced back to formative and sometimes complicated childhood environments. For Jurgen Klopp, one of the most famous football managers of the modern era, the motivation that fueled his relentless career was rooted in the quiet pride and unwavering expectations of his father.
The former Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool manager announced his retirement from coaching in January 2024, taking up a new role at football empire-turned-sports drink Red Bull GmbH as head of global football. Widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest managers, his credentials include league titles in Germany and England with the aforementioned clubs as well as a Champions League title – something like the Super Bowl of European football – with Liverpool. It was all the more significant as Klopp helped return Liverpool to the pinnacle of English football, a status the once-dominant club had lost since the late 1980s, when legendary Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson vowed to knock them off their “perch”. His 10-year rivalry with another great modern manager, Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola, saw the flowering of a new golden age for the English Premier League.
Klopp appeared on the Diary of a CEO podcast to talk about his coaching style, why he ended up at Liverpool instead of Manchester United and if he was really done coaching. But much of the discussion focused on the influences that made him who he is. Reflecting on his upbringing, Klopp said his father “loved me to the end and he loved me, he was very proud but never said it”. This dynamic created intense pressure that shaped the manager’s famous competitive spirit.
“I’m afraid I’m not ambitious enough”
Klopp is something of a folk hero in England and Germany for his coaching exploits, as he has a history of slaying dragons – he led Borussia Dortmund to an improbable league title in 2010-11, toppling dominant Bayern Munich, before repeating the trick later with Liverpool. In 2020, Klopp’s childhood coach Ulrich Rath told the BBC that Klopp’s father Norbert “had a big influence on him, he shaped him”. Nodding to Klopp’s exuberant and competitive spirit, Rath added: “When Jurgen jumps up and down, I can see Norbert in him. But when he closes the door behind him at home, he finds peace and quiet and gathers his strength. That’s his mother.”
Klopp told a similar story to Bartlett, saying his childhood home was defined by a critical mix of influences. He said he had a “very trusting dad,” coupled with a “very caring mom, who was “just happy to be there.” Klopp also described his mother as “very caring” and “loved” people. His father, who was a traveling salesman and former amateur goalkeeper, had clear expectations, Klopp added. He was “a little afraid of not being ambitious enough” and wanted his son to be a sportsman, excelling at everything from soccer to tennis to skiing.
Klopp described being constantly challenged by his father, who was tough because “he wanted to get the best out of me,” he said. Klopp told Bartlett that his father would race him on ski slopes and in sprints, “never letting you win”. The manager admitted that it was “not pleasant in a way” to experience this fierce competition.
The power of pure will
This relentless pursuit of excellence, instilled by his father’s high standards, forged the fundamental belief that sheer willpower could overcome natural talent. The coach admitted that initially he was “absolutely useless at most things” and that even his “teammates were better than me” at football. He realized he could only compete by being a “warrior on the field” from the first minute to the last – alluding to his favorite phrase that he liked his teams to play, “like a heavy metal band.” This compensatory effort, driven by the need to meet expectations, made him the competitive person he is today. He explained that his aggressive nature during his playing years came from knowing that “I’m not good enough” and trying to “put everything out from an aggressive standpoint.”
The resulting character became a blend of both parental influences: his father’s confidence and ambition, and his mother’s empathy and love for people. This combination became central to his leadership philosophy. He noted that his ability to speak publicly and confidently, necessary for a leader, “probably comes from him,” while his “love for people, unintentionally, comes from my mother.”
As a manager, this combination translated into a tailored leadership style in which he treated players “50% of the time completely the same, and 50% of the time he needs”. He emphasized that effective leadership does not depend on what the coach wants to shout, but on understanding “what he needs to hear to deal with his situation.” By combining high expectations – such as telling his players, “If you believe in yourself as much as I do, this will be a start” – with patience and support, he has created an environment in which players feel valued as individuals.
Sometimes, however, both sides of Klopp’s coaching personality leave behind hurt feelings, even broken hearts. Many beloved members of Klopp’s great Liverpool squad, including Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, have described sudden breakdowns in communications with Klopp as he ruthlessly kicked them out of the club after showering them with support, trust and affection. In 2023, Firmino described how things changed that year, as he was given no explanation as to why a new contract was not forthcoming and his playing time was decreasing. “The boss was avoiding me,” Firmino wrote in his 2023 autobiography. Yet Firmino insisted Klopp was the best manager he ever played under.
This dynamic also took its toll on Klopp. His departure from Liverpool shocked the footballing world at the time, when he was in his prime at 56, and Klopp spoke openly about the burnout behind his decision. A few years later, he is loving life. He told CBS News earlier this month, while touring Red Bull’s operations in New Jersey, that after 25 years as a coach, he enjoyed straying from the standards he had set for himself. “We go on vacation when we to want and not when we are allowed to,” he told CBS.
Klopp also described how his body broke down whenever he wasn’t a full-time coach, almost as if the psychological consequences of his heavy metal football were manifesting physically. “I haven’t been sick for 24 years or whatever,” he said, but after just two weeks out of work in Liverpool he described catching a cold “like I’d never been sick in my life. Two weeks I couldn’t lift my head… my body needed two weeks or whatever.” However, when pushed by Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett, Klopp admitted it was “theoretically possible” he could return to training one day, surely setting Liverpool hearts aflutter.
