Over the next few months, no figure in the German game is going to be busier than Marc Kosicke – the agent, PR and business advisor, and confidante of Jurgen Klopp, the most wanted coach on the European circuit today.
While his superstar client takes a fully deserved sabbatical after 14 seasons on the technical area treadmill with Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, former Nike executive Kosicke is beavering away in the background on the next phase of Klopp’s stellar career.
Since sensationally quitting Dortmund last spring, Klopp’s name has been linked at one time or another with more or less every leading side. And wherever the 48-year-old Stuttgarter ends up, that club will be in for the ride of its life: an adrenaline-fuelled journey of breakneck attacking football, youthful dash and daring, plus holy communion of team and fan base.
During his seven-year tenure in Dortmund, Klopp went much further than sporting success (two Bundesliga titles, a German Cup and 2013 Champions League Final runners-up). He excited, he enthused, he challenged; and by the end of the process, he had changed the Yellow-and-Blacks forever.
The term “project” has become something of a tired corporate-football cliche, but for Klopp it really does have substance. It means empire-building with a human touch, and a large dash of local community identification.
After Dortmund’s brush with bankruptcy in the early part of the new millennium, and several seasons of stagnation on the pitch, the charismatic Klopp was just the man to breath new life into their moribund operation. And this ability to freshen the stale is just what his latest slew of suitors crave.
This story is from the October 2015 edition of World Soccer.
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This story is from the October 2015 edition of World Soccer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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