Jurgen Klopp makes controversial return to soccer with Red Bull

Red Bull is one of several multi-club ownership groups in world soccer; it counts Germany’s RB Leipzig, Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg and Brazil’s Bragantino among its ranks. It’s also the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer — which means Klopp will be spending more time in the States moving forward, albeit in an advisory capacity and not a coaching one.

Multi-club ownership models like Red Bull’s are a controversial topic for soccer fans. They’re financially advantageous and offer clear benefits for member clubs; the New York Red Bulls, for instance, were able to sign Red Bull Salzburg coach Sandro Schwarz and RB Leipzig striker Emil Forsberg because of their shared corporate partner. But many fans harbor real concerns that models like Red Bull destroy competition and turn soccer away from community-based cultural expression and toward a global commodities market.

Those concerns are especially present in Germany, where fan ownership is a long-standing local tradition. German professional clubs must abide by a “50+1” ownership rule, which states that fans must own at least 51% of each team. Red Bull’s RB Leipzig is reviled in Germany because it complies with the letter but not the spirit of this law: it is majority fan-owned but offered just 17 buyable fans ‘shares’ and sold the vast majority of them to Red Bull employees.

For German soccer fans, RB Leipzig — and the more expansive Red Bull soccer empire — is considered the antithesis of soccer heritage and an existential threat to fan involvement. Protests are regularly staged at RB Leipzig games, and the German public shuns the coaches associated with it.

That could be a big problem for Klopp, whose contract with Red Bull reportedly has one specific exit clause: if he’s offered the German national team coaching job, he can walk away to take it.

Klopp has always had his eyes on the Germany job, but fan reactions to his Red Bull position — calling him a hypocrite, a sell-out and worse — may put that job out of reach.

Once a beloved figure in Germany, Klopp’s Red Bull transition has made him persona non grata with local fans. He built his reputation on being a soccer ‘romantic,’ protecting community traditions against the advancement of capitalism within the game. Eight years ago, Klopp stood for everything that Red Bull wasn’t; today, he’s optimistic about Red Bull’s role in soccer’s future.

“After almost 25 years on the sideline, I could not be more excited to get involved in a project like this,” he said. “The role may have changed but my passion for football and the people who make the game what it is has not.”

Klopp will formally join Red Bull in January 2025.