WHEN 1% IS EVERYTHING
What Klopp REALLY thinks about football (you might be surprised)
BY DAVID McCARTHY JURGEN KLOPP has opened his heart on the philosophy that has made him world football’s Manager of the Year.
And it all comes down to him knowing that there are more important things in life than winning or losing over 90 minutes.
The Liverpool boss picked up FIFA’s top coaching award on Monday night then wrote an emotional piece for the Players’ Tribune website in which he laid bare not only his feelings for football, but the responsibility he feels for ensuring that every child is able to play the game they love.
Klopp revealed he has joined the Common Goal movement, in which players and coaches donate one per cent of their earnings to support the growth of youth football across the globe.
The German remembers the struggles he had coping with being a young father and to combine a working life with playing amateur football. But even then, he insists, his existence was much easier than the life many of his players have had to endure.
He said: “When I was 20, if someone came from the future to tell me everything that was going to happen in my life, I would not have believed it.
“If Michael J Fox himself had come flying in on his hoverboard to tell me, I would have said it was impossible.
“When I was 20, I experienced the moment that changed my life.
“I was still a kid myself but I had also just become a father. It was not perfect timing. I was playing amateur football and going to university during the day.
“To pay for school, I was working in a warehouse where they stored movies for the cinema.
“This was the late 80s, when everything was still on film.
“The trucks would come at 6am to pick up the new movies and we would load and unload those huge metal canisters. They were quite heavy.
“I would sleep for five hours every night, go to the warehouse in the morning, and then go to class during the day.
“At night I’d go to training and then I’d come home and try to spend some time with my son.
“Sometimes people ask me why I am always smiling. Even after we lose a match, sometimes I’m still smiling. It’s because when my son was born, I realised that football is not life or death.
“Football is not something that should spread misery and hatred. Football should be about inspiration and joy, especially for children.
“I have seen what a little round ball can do for the lives of so many of my players.
“The difficulties I faced as a young man in Germany were nothing compared to what they had to overcome. There were so many moments when they could’ve easily given up but they refused to quit.
“They’re not gods. They just never gave up on their dream.
“I think 98 per cent of football is about dealing with failure and still being able to smile and find joy in the game the next day.”
Klopp wants more success, but he also wants others to have the experience the exhilaration. Even those kids who have nothing.
He said: “Over the past year, I’ve been really inspired by seeing Juan Mata, Mats Hummels, Megan Rapinoe, and so many other footballers join the Common Goal movement.
“More than 120 players have pledged one per cent of their earnings to empower football NGOs [non-government organisations] around the world.
“They’ve already helped support youth football programs in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, India, Colombia, the UK, Germany and many other countries.
“This isn’t just something for the richest footballers in the world. An entire starting 11 from the Canadian women’s national team has joined the cause. Footballers have joined from Japan, Australia, Scotland, Kenya, Portugal, England, Ghana. How can you not feel inspired by this? This is what football is all about.
“I want to be part of this. So I’m pledging one per cent of my salary to Common Goal and I hope many more people in the football world will join me.”
Football shouldn’t spread misery and hatred. It should spread inspiration and joy KLOPP