Visit to the box: Mainz’s managing director Christian Heidel (left) with Jürgen Klopp. IMAGO/HJS
Heidel and Klopp’s residences in Mainz and Wiesbaden as well as on Mallorca are only a few kilometers apart. The former FSV coach recently appeared at the Mewa Arena to watch his old club lose 2-1 to Werder Bremen.
The news that Klopp will become “Global Head of Soccer” at the drinks company from January 2025 did not come as a surprise to Heidel: “We have spent a lot of time together recently. So I already knew about it.”
Jürgen is aware of the discussions surrounding RB.
Heidel can also understand Klopp’s motivation: “It was clear to him that he didn’t want to be on the sidelines anymore. However, it was also clear that he wanted to continue working in football. Now he has a way to combine both aspects. He doesn’t just sit at a desk, he travels globally with RB, sometimes in England, sometimes in Brazil, sometimes in Japan. He can work with coaches, develop talent and his focus is solely on football, which he can now look at from a completely different perspective. A lot of factors came together where he said this is a perfect opportunity for him.”
While the now 61-year-old coach railed against constructs like TSG Hoffenheim shortly after the turn of the millennium, today he finds nothing particularly objectionable about the fact that clubs have developed in this way primarily through external financial resources: “Jürgen is aware of all the discussions surrounding RB. Kloppo is who he is and sometimes he does things without following the mainstream. RB is part of the football business. You don’t necessarily have to approve of it. I’m certainly one of RB’s critics, but we can’t turn back the clock. Someone also wrote to me: ‘Now the romance of football is over.’ But that romance is long over.”
The increasing number of former Mainz players involved at RB can also be traced back to a similar playing style that attracted Marco Rose to RB Leipzig or Sandro Schwarz to the New York Red Bulls and once led Bo Svensson to FC Liefering. Heidel also sees another pattern: “We can say that it also has a lot to do with the quality of the people. RB is known for paying close attention to this. The signing of Jürgen Klopp is certainly exceptional for RB.”
