Jürgen Klopp urges Germany to reclaim national pride from 'the wrong people'
Jürgen Klopp told reporters in Frankfurt, while unveiling his first Germany squad, that the national team can help ensure "national pride is not entrusted to the wrong people" after the far-right AfD won almost 44% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt on 6 September.
The AfD's victory in Saxony-Anhalt and the party's expectation of strong results in upcoming elections on Sunday in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania framed Klopp's remarks; he took the Germany job in July after the four-time World Cup winners experienced a third straight early elimination at the tournament. Klopp has previously spoken out on social issues during his managerial spells at Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz. In Frankfurt he called for what he described as "positive patriotism" while rejecting the transfer of national pride to extremist groups.
Klopp said: "I don’t want to entrust national pride to the wrong people. A crazy amount of things have happened not that long ago. There was a vote which some people probably found OK, but others would have thought: ‘Good heavens, what’s going on here?’ "From the perspective of someone in sport, I’d like to reclaim the flag for myself and for us. When we wave it, I don’t want that someone thinks: ‘What’s going on with you?’ I want that they think you’re happy and you understand how lucky you are to be born in this wonderful country or to have moved here and live here."
He added: "I’m not even sure if one can – or is allowed to – use that term any more without it being misunderstood." Klopp also said: "I can be proud of being German and still be open, diverse, kind and friendly." On priorities beyond sport he said it was more important that the country had enough doctors and caregivers, but that football can "foster a sense of community here, allowing us to truly feel the power of sport".
Klopp named a 44-man squad for four upcoming Nations League matches despite matchday lists being restricted to 23 players. "It’s very unusual that you’ve got four games in two weeks with the national team," Klopp said. "I want to get to know as many players as possible in that time." He signalled load management plans by saying Florian Wirtz and Kai Havertz will probably be limited to a maximum of two of the games as he looks to fit in more new faces and reduce the workload on players.
The selection includes Karim Adeyemi, who returns for the first time in 11 months after a positive start at Barcelona, and names Ajax’s Marc-André ter Stegen as the first-choice goalkeeper following Manuel Neuer’s international retirement. Many of the players called up have never played for Germany; some, such as the Elversberg midfielder Felix Keidel and Eintracht Frankfurt forward Younes Ebnoutalib, have played a handful of top-division games. Celtic’s Mika Baur, Brentford’s Vitaly Janelt and the Cologne youngster Said El Mala are among additional new faces, while the striker Deniz Undav and winger Leroy Sané were not selected.
Germany will begin the Nations League run away to the Netherlands, then face Greece home and away either side of hosting Serbia.