Will Jurgen Klopp ever manage Germany?

The last time Rudi Voller was in charge of the German men's national team, they limped out of the Euro 2004 group stages playing what became disparagingly known as Rumpelfussball - "sleeper train football" derived from the word rumpeln: to stutter or stumble.

Voller was hurriedly thrust back into the national team hot seat two decades later after Hansi Flick's stuttering reign was brought to a merciful halt in September 2023, nine months before the European Championships are held on German soil.

However, Voller was at pains to stress that he would only take charge of one game - an inconvenient friendly against back-to-back World Cup finalists France - prompting frenzied speculation surrounding Flick's permanent replacement.

For the umpteenth time, Jurgen Klopp's name sat towards the top of the dream list of candidates drawn up by the German FA (DFB). Yet, Liverpool's long-serving manager has always turned down advances from Die Nationalmannschaft in the past. Can he ever be persuaded?

What has Jurgen Klopp said about managing Germany?

Klopp - as he always is - has been very clear on his stance with the German national team; it doesn't matter if he wants to take the job, his personal values would not allow him to take it.

"The job of national coach is and would be a great honour," Klopp gushed as recently as July, "there's no question about that. The problem that stands in the way of the whole thing is my loyalty. I can't just leave Liverpool now and say I'll take over Germany for a short time. That doesn't work."

Klopp has another three years on a Liverpool contract that he has no intention of breaking. "If I'm supposed to do that [manage Germany] at some point," Klopp continued, "then I have to be available and I'm not currently. I have a responsibility towards the club.

"Basically, it's an interesting job. But I don't know yet whether I'll do something completely different after I leave Liverpool. I want to keep my options open."

Back in 2019, Klopp revealed that he was planning to take a year-long sabbatical once he left Liverpool - much like he had mapped out after ending his time at Borussia Dortmund only to be lured to Merseyside two months into the new season.

"I have absolute energy," Klopp said four years ago. "But I have one problem. I can't do a little bit. I can only do all or nothing. When I decide that I cannot do it any longer then I will take a break for a year. After that year a decision must then be taken. But chances are very high that my energy level will then be there once more and that I can then do the job the way I want to."

Ironically, it was Amazon's All or Nothing documentary of the German national team at the 2022 World Cup that served as the penultimate humiliation of Flick's tenure before a 4-1 loss to Japan sealed his fate.

When does Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool contract expire?

"It's simple," Klopp explained in more blunt terms when Joachim Low stepped down as Germany manager in 2021. "You sign a contract and you stick to that contract. I stuck to contracts at Mainz and Dortmund."

Klopp's current deal at Liverpool stretches through until 2026. When Klopp signed a two-year extension in April 2022, the German tactician rattled through the spectrum of emotions he was experiencing: "Delighted, humbled, blessed, privileged and excited."

Across Europe's top five leagues, only three managers have held their post for longer than Klopp at Liverpool - and Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone is the only one that can come close to matching his success on Merseyside.

What has the DFB said about Jurgen Klopp managing Germany?

The last men's international tournament that Germany hosted served as Klopp's breakthrough to the mainstream public in his homeland. Klopp had spent his entire playing career in Germany's second tier and never finished above 11th in the Bundesliga as a manager by the time he was hired as a ZDF pundit for the 2006 World Cup.

Dovetailing with national icon Franz Beckenbauer during a glorious summer which saw Germany reach the semi-finals, Klopp's infectious wit and easily digestible wisdom were lapped up by 20 million viewers each night. The two-time Bundesliga winner with Dortmund is still a regular on German TV, featuring in adverts as well as Liverpool's technical area on European nights.

Oliver Bierhoff worked as a director of the German national team between 2004 and 2022. Many of the final years of his spell at the DFB were spent batting away calls for Klopp.

In 2019, Bierhoff made the rare decision to actually utter the name of a manager not under contract at the DFB. "We want to develop internationally successful coaches, and Jurgen Klopp is a model example in this regard," Bierhoff said. "He has a fire burning inside of him. At the end of the day, I think it would be interesting and an honour for every coach to work for the German national team."

While Flick somehow survived Germany's World Cup group-stage exit, Bierhoff bit the dust. The former Milan striker was sacked in December 2022 but by the time Flick became the first ever German national team manager to be fired in September 2023, no permanent replacement for Bierhoff had been found.

Former female player Nadine Kessler had talks with the German FA to succeed Bierhoff but stepped away from negotiations on the same day that Flick got the flick.

The DFB may be rudderless but they are united in their desperation for Klopp. 90min revealed in September that the survivors of the World Cup cull would let Klopp complete the 2023/24 season with Liverpool before taking over Germany on a permanent basis ahead of the Euros this summer.

Klopp's heavy metal brand of football would certainly wake up Germany's sleeper train chugging towards mediocrity, but the DFB will have to wait until 2026 at the earliest to get their man.

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