Jurgen Klopp has vowed not to take another coaching job for at least another year after leaving Liverpool, but that doesn’t mean he will be twiddling his thumbs. In fact, a deal has already been signed which could keep him occupied.
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To the surprise and delight of Liverpool fans, Klopp wasted little time in launching an Instagram account (@Kloppo) as his tenure at Anfield drew to a close. He has been using it to keep fans updated with his day-to-day activities — and in a press release, a sports marketing agency has lifted the lid on the motivations behind the flurry of social media posts.
SPORTFIVE has announced that it has signed a deal with Project MJK, a management venture ‘closely associated’ with Klopp. Together, they coordinated the Instagram launch, and have big plans for the future.
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Klopp’s account attracted 1.5m followers within 24 hours of launching, with the launch video gaining 25.6m views. The account has now grown to nearly 4m followers.
And it’s all part of a plan to ‘bolster Klopp’s global brand presence and cultivate international partnerships and markets, with a special focus on Asia and the USA’. A three-year deal to this effect has been signed.
“Jürgen Klopp is the embodiment of excellence, mentoring, emotional intelligence, leadership and long-term vision,” said Philipp Hasenbein, Chief Operating Officer at SPORTFIVE. “His values align seamlessly with ours, and we are excited to collaborate with Project MJK to enhance Jürgen’s global reach.”
There was similar excitement from Mike Jäggle, the Managing Director at Project MJK. He emphasized the global goals of the collaboration:
“We are very excited about this partnership,” he said. “The industry leading experience and global infrastructure of SPORTFIVE will enable us to expand our footprint and to explore innovative opportunities outside of Germany.”
Liverpool.com says: It was always clear that Klopp would have effectively limitless commercial opportunities upon leaving Liverpool, regardless of what the future holds in terms of coaching. This new deal appears set on leveraging his global image as one of the best managers in the world.
In seeking to crack the US and Asia, the goals of the new partnership are not too dissimilar to the aims of Liverpool, and indeed many other major clubs. There’s a growing feeling that these are hugely lucrative markets.
As long as it means more Instagram content from Klopp, it sounds like good news to us. It will be interesting to see what comes next for him.