Jurgen Klopp revitalized Liverpool Football Club since taking the helm in 2015. Under his management, the club was transformed from a side languishing in and around the Europa League places to one of the best and most consistent performers in Europe.
The Reds are on track for more success in 2023/24: they are firmly in the Premier League title race, they won the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea, and they remain in contention to win both the Europa League and FA Cup this season. However, should Klopp deliver more silverware this year, it will be his last at Anfield: the German manager shocked the football world when it was announced on January 26 that he would be stepping down at the end of the season.
Despite his huge success, Klopp hasn't had it all his own way in finals, as once upon a time there was even talk of the 'Klopp Curse'. His success with Liverpool has helped to move away from such labels, however.
We look back at Klopp's illustrious career and his record in finals — both good and bad — as we analyze a managerial career full of ups and downs.
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— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) February 27, 2022
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How many trophies has Jurgen Klopp won?
Klopp has won 13 major trophies across his time managing at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, including the UEFA Champions League. He also won the 2022 Community Shield with Liverpool, and secured Bundesliga promotion with Mainz in 2003-04.
In that time, he has won nine finals to directly earn silverware.
| Season | Club | Trophy |
| 2023-24 | Liverpool | League Cup |
| 2022-23 | Liverpool | Community Shield |
| 2021-22 | Liverpool | FA Cup |
| 2021-22 | Liverpool | League Cup |
| 2019-20 | Liverpool | English Premier League |
| 2019-20 | Liverpool | FIFA Club World Cup |
| 2019-20 | Liverpool | UEFA Super Cup |
| 2018-19 | Liverpool | UEFA Champions League |
| 2014-15 | Borussia Dortmund | DFL-Supercup |
| 2013-14 | Borussia Dortmund | DFL-Supercup |
| 2011-12 | Borussia Dortmund | DFB-Pokal |
| 2011-12 | Borussia Dortmund | Bundesliga |
| 2010-11 | Borussia Dortmund | Bundesliga |
With Mainz, he won promotion to the Bundesliga back in 2004, and then won back-to-back Bundesliga titles with Dortmund from 2010-2012.
He won his first cup final in 2012, adding the DFB-Pokal to his collection by beating Bayern Munich 5-2. He then added two DFL-Supercups in 2013 and 2014.
Following a tough run of finals where his performance in big matches was openly questioned, Klopp finally broke through in 2019 with Liverpool as they secured the club's sixth European Cup, beating Tottenham 2-0 in the final.
From that success, the Reds earned the right to face Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup final and they won it on penalties. They then headed out to the FIFA Club World Cup, beating Flamengo 1-0 in extra time thanks to a Roberto Firmino winner. Klopp helped bring Liverpool two trophies that the club had never previously secured.
What also followed was a first-ever Premier League title, as Liverpool dominated the 2019-20 season in a brilliant campaign, making for a historic treble of trophies.
In 2021-22 Klopp picked up his 11th and 12th trophies with the penalty-kick shootout wins over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup finals. Both matches ended in scoreless draws, and while the first shootout in February needed the goalkeepers to take kicks — it finished 11-10 for the Reds — the FA Cup shootout wrapped up at 6-5 in favor of Liverpool.
Liverpool would again beat Chelsea a few months later at Wembley in a final, this time more convincingly with a 3-1 win to lift the Community Shield. The two met once again in February 2024, this time to contest the Carabao Cup final, with the Reds winning thanks to Virgil van Dijk's extra-time goal.
How many finals has Klopp lost?
Despite his successes as a manager, Klopp has had to deal with the heartbreak of losing six finals between 2013 and 2018 and once again to Real Madrid in the 2022 Champions League final.
At Dortmund, he reached the Champions League final at Wembley, where his side were edged out by a last-gasp winner from Arjen Robben that broke Dortmund hearts as they lost 2-1 to Bayern Munich.
It was Bayern again who foiled him in a final a year later, as the sides faced off in the final of the 2014 DFB-Pokal. Bayern scored two goals in extra time, as they (and Robben) had the last laugh again.
In Klopp's final season at Dortmund, he fell short in the DFL-Pokal final once again, this time to VfL Wolfsburg. Despite going ahead, they lost out to goals from Luis Gustavo, Bas Dost and Kevin De Bruyne.
In his first season in English football, he faced Manchester City in the League Cup final in 2016 at Wembley. After 120 minutes it ended 1-1, and Willy Caballero was the hero as City prevailed on penalties.
Next up was heartbreak in the Europa League final, as his ever-improving Liverpool side were foiled by the Europa League experts Sevilla. The Spanish side won their third straight title as an early Daniel Sturridge beauty was cancelled out by three second-half Sevilla goals.
But the most heart-breaking moment in his career came at the hands of Real Madrid (and sadly his own goalkeeper). Facing off against Madrid in the 2017-18 Champions League final, his side lost out 3-1 on the night as the Spanish side claimed its third straight title.
However, the nature of the goals is what the game is remembered for. Goalkeeper Loris Karius threw the ball against Karim Benzema, who took advantage of the keeper's lapse in concentration to open the scoring. After Sadio Mane equalized, it was Gareth Bale who produced one of the best goals ever scored in a cup final with his magical overhead kick, before he bagged a brace, this time from distance. But that shot should have been saved, with Karius again at fault.
At this time, while he was courted by Liverpool and in his first few seasons in England, the media — both English and German — questioned Klopp for his record in silverware matches, causing him to quip in 2019: "I am probably at the moment a world-record holder, in the last seven years at least, in winning semifinals. But if I wrote a book about that probably nobody would buy it."
No one was questioning his finals record by the time of the 2022 Champions League showdown with Real Madrid. With one of the best squads in the world, Liverpool were upset in the final on a lone Vinicius goal despite outshooting the Spanish club 24-4. The Reds could not find a way past goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who was the undisputed man of the match.