16 June 1967 - The Young Jürgen Klopp

On 16 June 1967, Liverpool 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. 

Klopp resigned from Dortmund in 2015 at the end of the season and joined Liverpool that October. He recently signed a new deal that will keep him there until 2022.

2 October 2010 - Mainz Roll To Seven

On 2 October 2010, Mainz joined an exclusive group by opening their season with a record-matching seven straight league wins. Like the others before them, however, the streak ended at seven.

Bayern Munich were the first team to win their first seven Bundesliga matches back in 1995 and Kaiserslautern matched the feat in 2001. In the 2010-11 season, Mainz beat both of them en route to their own streak. It started in August with Stuttgart and included wins over Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen, and Cologne to extend the run to six.

Their seventh match came against Hoffenheim, who had beaten Mainz twice the previous season. But the hosts, who were sitting at the top of the table, wasted no time in taking the lead--striker Sami Allagui put them ahead in just the second minute. Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba equalized in the 41st minute, Ádám Szalai (pictured at right) restored the lead six minutes later. Hoffenheim midfielder Luiz Gustavo inadvertently extended the lead with a 59th-minute own goal and the two teams traded late strikes to end the match as a 4-2 Mainz victory.

Unfortunately for Mainz, they fell short of taking sole possession of a new record, falling to Hamburg 0-1 in their next match two weeks later. 

Since then, Bayern Munich broke the record by opening with eight straight league wins in 2012, then pushed the record to ten in 2015. 

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.

2 October 2010 - Mainz Roll To Seven

On 2 October 2010, Mainz joined an exclusive group by opening their season with seven straight league wins. Like the others, however, the streak ended at seven.

Bayern Munich were the first team to win their first seven Bundesliga matches back in 1995 and Kaiserslautern matched the feat in 2001. In the 2010-11 season, Mainz beat both of them en route to their own streak. It started in August with Stuttgart and included wins over Wolfsburg, Werder Bremen, and Cologne to extend the run to six.

Their seventh match came against Hoffenheim, who had beaten Mainz twice the previous season. But the hosts, who were sitting at the top of the table, wasted no time in taking the lead--striker Sami Allagui put them ahead in just the second minute. Hoffenheim striker Demba Ba equalized in the 41st minute, Ádám Szalai (pictured at right) restored the lead six minutes later. Hoffenheim midfielder Luiz Gustavo inadvertently extended the lead with a 59th-minute own goal and the two teams traded late strikes to end the match as a 4-2 Mainz victory.

Unfortunately for Mainz, they fell short of taking sole possession of a new record, falling to Hamburg 0-1 in their next match two weeks later.