Jurgen Klopp has hit out on the newly expanded Membership World Cup, calling it the “worst concept ever carried out in soccer.”
The previous Liverpool supervisor, who gained the match with the membership in 2019 underneath its outdated format, believes the up to date model locations an pointless burden on top-level gamers.
That triumph, Liverpool’s first within the competitors, got here when the match was a smaller occasion. Now, the brand new 32-team model started simply two weeks after the Champions League last and has already reached the last-16 stage.
Liverpool aren’t collaborating this time, not like Chelsea and Manchester Metropolis, and Klopp admits he’s relieved.
Talking to German outlet Welt, he mentioned: “The Membership World Cup is the worst concept ever carried out in soccer on this regard. Individuals who have by no means had something to do with day-to-day enterprise are arising with concepts.
“I perceive those that say: However there are insane sums of cash for participation. However that’s not for each membership. Final 12 months it was the Copa and the Euro, this 12 months the Membership World Cup, and subsequent 12 months the World Cup.
“Meaning no actual restoration for the gamers concerned, neither bodily nor mentally. After all, all of them earn some huge cash. However let’s depart that apart for a second.”
🗣️ Klopp: “Membership World Cup is the worst concept ever carried out in soccer. Individuals who have by no means had something to do with day-to-day enterprise are arising with concepts.
I concern that subsequent season gamers will undergo accidents they’ve by no means had earlier than. If not, then it’s going to occur on the… pic.twitter.com/vF2eV8Nyky
— Soccer Discuss (@FootballTalkHQ) June 28, 2025
Klopp pointed to the cumulative toll on gamers’ well being, utilizing Virgil van Dijk for instance.
“A participant within the NBA who additionally earns some huge cash has 4 months off yearly. Virgil van Dijk hasn’t even had that in his whole profession. Tournaments just like the Membership World Cup can’t be performed on the backs of the gamers. I don’t want it on anybody, however I’ve a severe concern.”
The match will run by way of to July 13, which means golf equipment like Metropolis and Chelsea can have solely 5 weeks earlier than the beginning of the Premier League season on August 16.
Klopp believes this congested schedule will trigger important points, warning: “Maybe not everybody has acknowledged the true drawback but, that subsequent season gamers will undergo accidents they’ve by no means had earlier than. If not this season, then it should occur on the World Cup or afterward.
“We continually inform them to enter each sport as if it had been their final. We inform them that 70 or 75 occasions a 12 months. However it might probably’t go on like this.”
He added that the standard of the sport itself may decline if nothing adjustments.
“Now we have to ensure they’ve breaks, as a result of in the event that they don’t get them, they gained’t be capable of ship prime performances in the long term, and if they will’t do this anymore, your entire product loses worth for the sellers,” he mentioned.
Since leaving Liverpool final summer time after practically a decade in cost, Klopp has taken on a brand new function as Purple Bull’s international sporting director, the place he oversees their community of soccer golf equipment.