Jürgen Klopp – The Charismatic One: Mainz turned Klopp into cult. The club signed the Swabian in 1990 for the upcoming second-division season. Between then and 2001 he played 325 matches and, already under Wolfgang Frank, became the coach’s extended arm on the pitch.
When Mainz were threatened by relegation in 2001, the injured “Kloppo,” who still lacked the formal coaching badge for a head-coach role in professional football but had completed a degree in sports science, was put in charge. Under him, Mainz won six of their first seven matches and stayed up. Charismatic Klopp won the club sympathy far beyond the city limits.
In 2008 he followed the call from Dortmund, in 2015 he moved on to Liverpool, and in 2019 he became World Coach of the Year.
