Liverpool Manager Jürgen Klopp Rules Out Germany Job With Löw Set to Step Down

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp took himself out of the running to replace Joachim Löw when the Germany manager steps down this summer.

Jürgen Klopp may one day lead the German national team—it just won't be anytime soon, the Liverpool manager said on Tuesday.

"If I am available for coach of the German national team in the summer?" Klopp asked during a press conference ahead of Liverpool's UEFA Champions League match against RB Leipzig. "No. After the summer? No ... In the future, maybe. Now? No."

The search for the next coach of the German national team will start a year earlier than expected after current manager Joachim Löw announced he would step down after this summer's European Championship rather than see out his contract that ends after the 2022 World Cup. 

Klopp shut down rumors linking him to the Germany job this summer after a dreadful year at Liverpool. Less than a year after winning its first Premier League title and two years removed from a Champions League trophy, Liverpool currently sits in eighth place, seven points outside of the top four and Champions League qualification.

After 15 years leading Germany, Löw will end his tenure having experienced the highest peaks and lowest valleys of managing a national team. In 2014, Löw guided Germany to World Cup glory in Brazil, ending the country's longest World Cup drought, only to suffer the international humiliation of a group-stage exit in 2018.

"Jogi Löw did an incredible job for so many years," Klopp said. "I understand that he wants to have this highlight at the European Championship, try to squeeze everything out that he can in this tournament, and then somebody else will do the job.

"Someone else will do the job and I am pretty sure with the amount of really good German managers at the moment the German FA will find a good solution."