“Living in an era where the future is unknown” RB Omiya asks Jurgen Klopp’s new job, challenges and future of modern soccer[Exclusive interview]

Crop answered an interview (Photo) = Suda Teruki

In January 2025, Jurgen Klopp left his supervision and started a new job. He has been appointed global football manager for the Red Bull Group and lives a life traversing around Europe, North America, South America, and Asia.

Klopp’s jurisdiction includes, of course, RB Omiya Ardija, who joined the Red Bull Group this year. He watched the opening match of the Meiji Yasuda J2 League in February and made his first visit to Japan, and on July 5th he visited Japan for the second time and watched RB Omiya’s match again. Before and after that, they also communicated with club staff and others.

This time, an interview was conducted on Soccer King to coincide with Klopp’s visit to Japan. He talked about his activities at the Red Bull Group, his evaluation of RB Omiya, his current situation, his approach to the current soccer calendar when he expressed doubts about the FIFA Club World Cup, and his transformation in soccer.

Interview date: July 6th
Interview: Komatsu Haruo
Photo by Suda Teruter, Getty Images

■It’s unpredictable that everyone loves the game

–This is my second visit to Japan. Once again, what do you think of Japan?

CropThis time it was also very positive. Of course, I had been working in another job for about 25 years, so I was unable to gain experience in Japan. Last time, it was my first visit to Japan, and this is my second time, and it’s been amazing. We’ve already made some changes and improved a lot. Yesterday I visited the academy and just changing things a little makes a big impact, and the atmosphere really changed, which I think is amazing. But this is just the beginning, and I dream big.

–What are your impressions of RB Omiya, including the opening match against Montedio Yamagata (○2-1) and the two matches against Iwaki FC this time (●1-2)?

CropIt was my second match, and I think there have been great progress in general. As a result, we won the opening game and lost this time, but that’s the exact opposite of football, so it’s not a problem. Today I spoke with some players. We had a little meeting with the director, and that’s normal when I’m there, and we were able to talk about a lot of different things. From a football perspective, I think it’s a great development. Don’t think of it as normal to be able to be promoted from third place. It is extremely rare for a J3 to be promoted from J2 to J2 and immediately become a first team in J2. We have a good team, but we could say it was a bit of a difficult time. They had a five-game draw, but they probably could have won all of them, so they should have won three. I don’t think last night’s match was a game I would normally lose, but I lost. This is football. It’s unpredictable that everyone loves the game. Overall, I’m pleased with this because it’s a positive progress.

■Sharing is more openly than anyone else, without hiding

—You have started a new job in 2025, so what are the surprises and joys of doing different jobs than before?

CropIt’s all exciting. In football, I can’t compare the three clubs I’ve been in charge, and should I compare them to RB Omiya? Soccer is soccer, there are players and managers. (That environment) is very familiar to me. I value starting something very much. In Mainz, we needed to find something new. Dortmund had to get the club back on track, and so was Liverpool. And here you can partner with a club for an exciting journey. Red Bull’s involvement is a great opportunity for both RB Omiya and Red Bull. And you can be involved in special projects in super exciting regions, super exciting countries, and super exciting continents. I don’t know how much Asian people know about Europe, but Europeans don’t know much about Asia, partly because they are far away. But I’m happy because I can learn every day. I have a lot of passion for that. We don’t want to change things. I want to understand things and use them. And I would be happy to do so if it helps improve. I’m very open right now, I’m still learning every day, and I’m trying to understand and support them more.

–That means that as a person, there is new growth and learning.

CropI’m currently working on a new job, but before that I finally got to know what I could do about what I’ve done for 23 years. Looking back, I have had an incredible career. I think I was able to understand what I’ve been doing as I pursued that career. I’m always a learner, so I wanted to do something new. Everyone learns in life, but now I am a “true learner.” It’s only been about six months since I started my new job, but it’s become very intensive. At the same time, they do the same work on other continents. But I love this challenge and before I started this job I wasn’t 100% sure I could help, but after six months, I’m sure I can help, and that’s why I’m so happy. I share my experiences more openly than anyone else, without any secret. It’s about soccer questions and life questions. I’m 58, and if I have any questions I might be able to answer.

■Counter presses are not proposals, but norms

—What do you value when scouting or evaluating players?

CropScooting just one club is difficult, but that is not possible with all six clubs, so you need the help of experts. However, we must create a clear identity and a clear philosophy. If you’re in the Red Bull Group, you’ll have to do it in the same way. Otherwise, they will not be able to have an influence and will only be “only” with clubs in various parts of the world. All you have to do is say, “You won! Great” or “You lost.” It would be a shame if that happened. That’s why I go down one path. To that end, Red Bull had several policies and brought them to all clubs and raised them on the wall. One is strength, and that is our identity, and counterpress is not something that we have as a proposal, it is a norm. It’s too short to explain why that’s the case. But I think we’ll be visiting more often, and we can talk about it.

I want to create something and help create something stable. If you are in a stable location, you may be able to jump from there. If you can work on everything, you can work hard. If there is even a little bit of fragile, it will not improve or grow. That’s why we want to create stability. We create stability in football here and then have the people here do their own work. They’re all talented, excellent, good teams, great coaches, and everything’s there. We are ready to take the next step, and that is something we have to do all the time in life. So it’s really exciting. I love supporting them, helping them all. So let’s see what happens. It’s not that there’s time over and over again. You can’t wait 10 or 15 years. But I can’t hurry either. That’s why we are trying to take the right steps at the right time. He’s still young, and he’s still too early. It may be moving faster than planned. But it’s never the case that you don’t want to do your best to get promoted. Even if that is achieved, it will have to be improved, and even if it does not, it will have to be improved. That’s what it is, and it remains the same. We find it very exciting, positive and optimistic.

■Professional athletes are given the result of their environment, such as education, practice, and parents.

—In modern soccer, team tactics are more important, but what do you think about the balance with individual talent?

CropThe professional players who play in the best leagues in the world we see now are the result of education, training, and the environment of parents and friends. What excels them now is because they have better education, better instruction and better training. That’s why the main responsibility of a football club lies there. We want to focus on the academy and put our passion, love and creativity into it. If you don’t live in Saitama or Tokyo, you can play anywhere, but if you do, I would like to make this a club that parents can easily choose as a top-class place to let their children go. This way we can take responsibility and do our best training.

When thinking of being a soccer player, in an ideal world, you have to be technically perfect. It’s about moving instinct without thinking when the ball comes and needs to be controlled. Who will be responsible for that? Is it a child, a girl, a boy, or a coach? Probably all of that. So what can we do? Everything else, like tactics, physicality, and other things, grow and grow older, just as you gain muscle and endurance, you get better. But you have to learn the techniques in the most depth. As you all know, you can only walk when you are about one or two years old. The more you practice, the more perfect it becomes. The same goes for physical. If you practice these things, you’ll follow.

You can also teach and teach the tactical parts of the match later. So, the first thing you need to do is this (technique). That’s how players are born. It’s the same for boys and girls. And we’re focused on that so that they can give them the best skill set to become the best players.

I was always happy there and always excited to give young players the opportunity to shine. And one day, RB Omiya may become the youngest team in J1. It’s not something that will come soon tomorrow, it’s the future. To put it more simply, there may be a day when we will become a team that will make us want to watch on TV even if we don’t want to miss a RB Omiya game and can’t come to the stadium.

■We live in an era where we don’t know what the future will be like

— In an interview the other day, he spoke out against the holding of the FIFA Club World Cup. Modern soccer has problems with overcrowded schedules and player fatigue.

CropYou read the news. There’s no need to say it over and over, and everyone knows my opinion. What I believe is that everyone needs to prepare well so they can do their best, and playing physical sports requires training and everyone needs time to recover. The more intense your daily life becomes, the more time it takes to recover, otherwise it will wear out more and more. That’s what humans do. It is not determined by the strength of your will. Even if I do it once, twice or three times, my body won’t last the fourth time. So I fought to make sure my players get plenty of rest, and while I also need plenty of training time as a coach. It’s fine as long as you can train full for a week. However, just thinking about having to train outdoors in the heat and humidity is difficult, and it’s not something you can enjoy. If you do it for 1 or 2 hours a day, there’s no problem, but you’ll have to recover after that. That’s what it is. If that’s fine, I think that’s fine. Players must absolutely give everything, and that’s what I want. This is why people are paid a high salary, but they need to take some rest. That’s all I’m talking about. I’ve been doing this for 23 years and the difference is clear. However, for about 15 years, we were in a situation where we played once every three days. I really didn’t have time to recover, so I’ll talk about this whenever I’m going to take a look. I don’t have to think too deeply about this job right now, as this problem is not the case.

— There was talk of rest, but in modern soccer, all participating players are required to compete even more aggressively. What kind of transformation do you think will be taking place in the future?

CropIf you don’t reduce the number of games, you will need to increase the number of players on your team. That’s an easy solution. If nothing… if, for example, something like a drink that can be quickly recovered, then we have no choice but to try to get it back to its best. So it’s certainly necessary to have more players. But I hope there will be no other real changes. With regard to recent changes, having five substitutions in place was extremely helpful and I think it’s an idea in the right direction. We had to fight desperately, speak out and hold our voices in a steady way. And finally, everyone started to wonder, “Isn’t it really necessary?” If you have no experience in a match or stay away from a match for over 20 years, you will forget how intense it is. But it’s fine now. There are other small changes too. I had never thought about what I should change about football. I’m happy with the game I’m currently doing. If I play as good as I can, that would be my most spectacular match. It’s the most intense and fun match for me to watch. So I’m satisfied as it is now.

–What kind of future do you want to create for the Red Bull Group as a whole?

Cropexciting. An exciting future, a fun future, a future that you can enjoy together. We believe we live in an age where we don’t know what the future will be like. In some parts, I think sports can be a little bit separate from serious things. It can be said to be “OK, Come on,” and it’s easy to enjoy, with many things that can be good for you and your body. I want to be a part of it. We want to be part of RB Omiya’s fanbase, go to see our first game, and there are so many things that we want to show a shining prospect. Red Bull is a symbol of other sports as well. Whatever you do, wearing a Red Bull helmet would be super exciting. It’s usually too dangerous for me, so I’m happy in the football department and don’t have to jump off the plane, but we want to be exciting too. I want to be part of the entire region. We want to be the better place people want.