Saturday, June 16, 2012

16 June 1967 - The Young Jürgen Klopp

On 16 June 1967, Borussia Dortmund boss and two-time German Manager of the Year Jürgen Klopp was born in Stuttgart.

He spent his entire playing career in the second division with Mainz, joining them as a striker in 1990, then converting to a defender in 1995. He retired in 2001 after scoring 52 goals in 325 league appearances, then took charge of the club in February of that year.

In his fourth season as manager, he led Mainz to the top flight, earning promotion for the 2004-05 season, but they were relegated in 2007. When they failed to return to the top flight in 2008, Klopp resigned. Thenm in May of that year, he signed a two-year contract as manager of Borussia Dortmund.

Dortmund improved significantly in his first season, finishing in sixth place--seven spots higher than they had the previous season. They followed that with a fifth-place finish in 2010, then won the league in 2011 (their first league title in nine years). In 2012, they repeated as Bundesliga champions and won the DFB-Pokal for the first Double in club history.

Those results turned Klopp into an attractive candidate for several openings, but he recently signed a new deal with Dortmund that will keep him at the club until 2016.

1 comment:

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.