Mainz 05 Technical Director Meikel Schönweitz has expressed his pride that the club’s former defender and coach Jurgen Klopp is now the national team coach of Germany.
Klopp, 59, spent most of his playing career at Mainz but retired from playing in 2001 and became the club’s coach basically over night.
‘From accidental coach to Bundesliga promotion’
He won six of his first seven games in charge and helped the club prevent relegation from Bundesliga 2. He then fourth in the following two seasons, narrowly missing out on promotion to the Bundesliga, but eventually got promoted in 2003/04 – securing the club’s first promotion in their history.
Mainz, who had the smallest stadium and the smallest budget, stayed in the Bundesliga for two campaigns but got relegated in 2005/06. However, Klopp stayed on as the coach and only resigned at the end of the 2007/08 after failing to regain promotion twice.
And the rest, as the saying goes is history. Klopp became manager of Borussia Dortmund, where he won two Bundesliga titles, one DFB Pokal, two DFL Super Cups and also reached the UEFA Champions League final in 2012/13, losing to Bayern Munich in extra-time.
He had now become one of the most sought-after coaches in the game and Liverpool snapped him up. Kloppo, as he is affectionally known, won every trophy on offer in England and reached three Champions League finals. After losing in 2017/18, Klopp finally lifted the holy grail in club football in 2018/19.
He stayed at Liverpool until 2024, before resigning, citing burnout as one of the reasons. After the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where Germany crashed out in the Round of 32, Klopp replaced Julian Nagelsmann as the Die Mannschaft’s head coach – something which fills everyone at his former club Mainz with huge pride, especially because Klopp has stayed true to his game and character.
“Yeah, that’s a point we’re really proud of, but what I have to say is that he’s not the only one who’s who made a world career out of our club,” Mainz TD Schönweitz said when asked about Klopp’s by iDiski Times.
“He was a former, not the best, defender we ever had. He’s saying that also, but our CEO Christian Heidel was really brave at that time to put a player into the first line to give him the chance to be the coach of the first team.
“And the way Jurgen Klopp made [a career] after that is sensational. But throughout the whole journey he has stayed the same, and that’s maybe the one thing we are most proud of.
“That he’s the same guy who who started in Mainz, the same person. He gets a world career. He’s sensational, and that’s really a reason why we are proud of him.
“But we really love it and it’s sensational that he stood true to himself. He’s the same guy when he visits us in Mainz, he’s the same guy.”
‘But there is also Tuchel’
Klopp is not the only former Mainz 05 coach who has made it big in world football, as Thomas Tuchel, who was in charge of Mainz from 2009 to 2014 also became one of the most-respected coaches in the game. Similar to Klopp, Tuchel went to Borussia Dortmund after leaving Die Nullfünfer, winning one DFB Pokal.
But his career then took him to Paris Saint-Germain, where he won five trophies, including back-to-back Ligue 1 titles. From PSG, Tuchel moved onto Chelsea, lifting another three trophies, including the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League. He then returned to the Bundesliga, coaching Bayern Munich to the title in 2022/23 and has been with England since 2025.
For Schönweitz, Tuchel and Klopp’s rise from Mainz to world football, is one of the biggest achievements for the club and he would love to see both of them meet in the 2028 UEFA European Championship final.
“And what I have to say, he’s not the only one. Thomas Tuchel also was a former academy coach of our youth academy and made a world career,” he added.
“And there were some other coaches, and what we wish in Mainz is that the the next European Championship final would be Kloppo against Thomas Tuchel with Germany against England. That would be a dream for every Mainzer.”
This season, Mainz are coached by Urs Fischer and they are currently in 12th place, losing 2-1 to table-toppers Bayern Munich this past weekend.