Julian Nagelsmann will step down as Germany’s head coach after the team’s disappointing showing at the World Cup, paving the way for the former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp to replace the 38-year-old.
Nagelsmann agreed to leave the post he took over from Hansi Flick a little under three years ago after talks with German Football Association (DFB) officials at their headquarters in Frankfurt on Thursday.
The DFB said in a statement that Nagelsmann’s contract, which ran to the 2028 European Championship, would end with immediate effect and that Klopp “has already indicated his fundamental readiness to take over the position”. Klopp has been working as a pundit for German TV at the World Cup.
“The German Football Association expressly thanks Julian Nagelsmann for his work since September 2023,” the DFB president, Bernd Neuendorf, said in a statement.
“He is characterised by a high level of commitment and extraordinary ambition. Julian Nagelsmann is also an extremely responsible and sincere person whom we all value”. DFB sporting director, Rudi Völler, added Nagelsmann “is and remains an excellent coach and I am convinced that he will continue to follow his path successfully”.
Media reports said Nagelsmann had been urged to depart voluntarily after presenting his explanation for Germany’s last-32 loss to Paraguay in Boston on Monday, with Bild reporting he has been offered a severance package of €7m, roughly one year’s salary, to cut short his contract.
“The decision was anything but easy for me,” Nagelsmann said in a statement. “My top priority has always been the success of the team. After such a bitter disappointment, it deserves the chance of a new beginning. I am sorry and hurt from the bottom of my heart that we disappointed you and couldn’t give you any more football nights at this World Cup.”
The defeat to Paraguay marked the third successive World Cup failure for Germany, having won the tournament for a fourth time in 2014. It was also the first time the Mannschaft had lost on penalties at the finals. Germany also lost to Spain in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 under Nagelsmann.
Klopp has been out of management since leaving Liverpool at the end of the 2023-24 season, having led the club to Premier League and Champions League glory. He subsequently took on the post of Red Bull’s head of global soccer. Sky Germany has reported that the 59-year-old, who also previously managed Mainz and Borussia Dortmund to great success, has a verbal agreement that would allow him to leave to take the Germany job.
Nagelsmann’s departure has also drawn attention from the German government. “The chancellor thanks Julian Nagelsmann for his commitment and service in recent years as national team coach,” Friedrich Merz’s spokesperson, Stefan Kornelius, told reporters at a government news conference on Friday.
