This Tuesday, Jürgen Klopp was officially inducted as global director of football at Red Bull during a press conference at the energy drink firm’s headquarters in Salzburg. He spoke for the first time about his new functions. The former Liverpool coach returned to his express trip to Paris this weekend to discover Paris FC, where Red Bull has become a 10.6% shareholder alongside the Arnault family.
On Saturday, he attended Paris FC’s victory against Amiens (1-0) at the Charléty stadium during the 18th day of Ligue 2. “I have never seen a match from so far away. The last time I saw a match from so far away was on TV, in such a stadium, it’s difficult to create an atmosphere,” he said as the Parisian club is considering a moving, at least temporarily, to the Jean-Bouin stadium.
The visit to the Orly training center the next day “reminded me of that of my first club, twenty years ago”. An observation which shows all the work that still remains for Paris FC to grow in terms of its structures. Development work that he will supervise in the coming months with Red Bull, which has regular exchanges with Paris FC. A Red Bull team is also expected this week at Orly to see the installations.
“As with all other clubs, in Germany, Austria, Brazil, the United States or Japan, it will take time,” he added. Ligue 2, in any country, is a very difficult division. All the teams are more or less equal and the climbs are decided on few things,” said Klopp, who began his coaching career in the 2nd division in Mainz. Memories that he evoked during his one-on-one interview with Stéphane Gilli, the Parisian coach.
“This fantastic city deserves to have two clubs in Ligue 1. If it’s not this season, we’ll do everything to make sure it’s the next. », noted, alongside him, Oliver Mintzlaff, the brand’s director of projects and investments, who was present alongside Klopp during his trip to Paris this weekend. With Mario Gomez, the technical director, Oliver Mintzlaff is also one of the two Red Bull representatives on the Paris FC Board of Directors.
