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Jurgen Klopp will not enter England running after Gareth Southgate exit
Former Liverpool manager intends to stick to his plan of having a full year off before considering a return to work
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Jürgen Klopp will not be available to replace Gareth Southgate in time for the start of the World Cup qualifiers as the former Liverpool coach has no intention of returning to top-level management for another 12 months.
Klopp announced when he left Anfield that he would be taking at least a year off and will not join a club or a national federation during that time.
Despite a clamour for him to be a leading candidate to replace Southgate following his resignation as England coach, Telegraph Sport understands Klopp’s position is unchanged and there is no prospect of him performing a U-turn.
It will be July 2025 before Klopp is ready to return to management. That means the Football Association would have to begin their World Cup qualification with a caretaker or interim manager before they could entertain the idea of the German coach taking over in the build-up to the 2026 tournament.
There would be no guarantee that Klopp would take the job even then, although his main focus at the moment is his sabbatical and whether England would approach him is hypothetical.
Mark Bullingham, the FA chief executive, said: “The process for appointing Gareth’s successor is now under way and we aim to have our new manager confirmed as soon as possible. Our Uefa Nations League campaign starts in September, and we have an interim solution in place if it is needed.”
Klopp was approached by the United States over replacing Gregg Berhalter, but did not enter any formal discussions with the 2026 World Cup co-hosts.
He said at the time of announcing his Liverpool exit in January: “It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.
“After the years we had together and after all the time we spent together and after all the things we went through together, the respect grew for you, the love grew for you and the least I owe you is the truth – and that is the truth.”