Why are Borussia Dortmund fans annoyed at Jürgen Klopp for the Red Bull move?

Borussia Dortmund are a staple of German football and Jürgen Klopp is one of the most notable faces in the history of the club in the 21st century.

Winning the Bundesliga in consecutive seasons in 2011 and 2012 as manager of the Black-Yellows, he broke Bayern Munich's dominance in the Bundesliga. Alongside this, he reached the Champions League final in 2013 where he faced Bayern Munich in the infamous "Der Klassiker" endgame in Wembley where he eventually lost 2-1.

Upon leaving Borussia Dortmund at the end of the 2014-2015, Jürgen Klopp took a break in management until he joined Liverpool in October 2015. Upon leaving BVB, he said: "It's not that I'm tired, I've not had contact with another club but don't plan to take a sabbatical." (BBC Sport)

This theme of tiredness and needing a new challenge was relit in January 2024 when Klopp announced his departure from Liverpool for the end of the 23-24 Premier League season. Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com in January, he cited one of the reasons for him leaving the club being the result of him "running out of energy".

Coming to the defence of Jürgen Klopp, the new role at Red Bull should keep him out of immediate sight on the pitch and behind the scenes with media duties being lessened.

But why are Red Bull group in particular so controversial in Germany?

RB Leipzig, the biggest club currently within the Red Bull group, has risen up Germany's tiers since being founded in 2009 following the acquisition of former club SSV Markranstädt.

Currently, they play in the Bundesliga (Germany's top tier) and they have been in this division since 2016.

Working their way up the tiers, they have received a lot of criticism for their workarounds of the Bundesliga's 50+1 rule as they only have 21 club members members eligible to vote on club matters with all of these members directly or indirectly linked to Red Bull.

The reaction

According to Klopp, he sees little reasoning behind the criticism of his decision to join the Red Bull Group as he spoke on the matter whilst on Toni Kroos' podcast "Einfach mal Luppen" and said: "You cannot make your decision depending on what reactions there will be."

However, some fans still did not expect this announcement that Klopp would undertake his new role at the Red Bull group.

As a result, Dortmund fans ended up protesting with banners and various comments on social media, as some were left unsatisfied with their previous manager's move and chose to voice these opinions in different ways.

Below: Banner reading "Sympathie kann man nicht kaufen. Null Toleranz gegenüber RB" (English) "You can't buy Sympathy. No tolerance towards RB" from Borussia Dortmund's tie with RB Leipzig on Saturday last weekend. (Getty Images)