On Wednesday, Borussia Dortmund announced that manager Jürgen Klopp will be leaving at the end of the season. Klopp requested his release from his contract, which was granted by the club and announced in a press conference.
Jürgen Klopp to leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season
The Borussia Dortmund manager will move on after seven years at the helm.
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It's been a disappointing season for Dortmund, who expected to finish comfortably inside the Champions League places in the Bundesliga. Instead, the club is down in 10th, and was near the relegation places for most of the season. Back-to-back losses to Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach have made it impossible for the team to qualify for next season's Champions League.
Klopp will leave in very similar circumstances to his last job at Mainz, the club he played his entire career for. He took them to the Bundesliga for the first time, but couldn’t keep them there and resigned after failing to win promotion in their first season back in the 2. Bundesliga. After seven years, once he thought he’d taken the club as far as he could, he left for Dortmund. He leaves Der BVB after the same period of time, after the same kind of climb, fall and failure to reach their former heights.
However, Klopp said he was not leaving because of the club’s poor results. “We have suffered in recent years when a player’s departure or another decision was made too late,” said Klopp. “This isn’t happening again.”
He wanted to give the club ample time to find his replacement, as opposed to abruptly announcing his departure in the summer. That implies he has his eyes on a bigger job, though he’s certainly not in a position to say which one.
Klopp leaves Dortmund having won the Bundesliga twice, the DFB-Pokal once and finishing runners-up once in the UEFA Champions League.
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