EXCLUSIVE: Jürgen Klinsmann shares vital advice for young strikers dreaming of Bundesliga success

The German manager and former player talked about the Bundesliga’s presence on the world stage and more.

Jürgen Klinsmann featured for many top European clubs during his active days as a football player. He was a striker who was very fond of scoring goals and helping his team in the final third.

He kicked off his senior career in 1981, where he first played for the Stuttgarter Kickers and later signed for clubs like VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich and Sampdoria. Klinsmann summed up his club career playing for a then-American side, Orange County Blue Star.

The German star was a part of the West Germany national football team, which won the FIFA World Cup 1990 edition. He also played for the unified Germany national football team that won the UEFA Euro 1996.

Germany’s one of the premier strikers then became a football manager, where he first managed Germany and helped them secure a third-place finish in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Klinsmann also coached Bayern Munich, the US Men’s national soccer team, Hertha BSC and most recently the South Korea national football team.

While talking to Khel Now, Jürgen Klinsmann spoke about the Bundesliga’s global presence and reaching a wider international audience:

“Oh, that’s a good question, but not for me because it’s the decision makers of the Bundesliga that you need to ask about that. I see it myself more like an outside perspective of a fan. When you talk about that topic, which is obviously a hot topic to be talked about because we have leagues that explore themselves globally, they try to go and organise games outside of their own countries.

In other sports, for example, American football, who travel to Europe or Australia to play a game and do things like that to promote their league or promote their sport. So when you talk about ‘how to brand a league’ and ‘how to brand your own club and make it bigger than it is already, then those are the things that come to mind. In order to get more presence in your own country, the best way is to go there and play games. You show up to connect with people and the fans.

This is always a hot topic I guess, for teams around the world in what they are doing to grow their fan base and businesses at the end of the day. But obviously, you have to kind of discuss that person by person and club by club. It’s difficult to say in general what they should, but it is always a fun topic for football fans to talk about.”

Further talking about what’s the biggest thing a young striker needs to make it in the Bundesliga these days, Klinsmann said:

“I mean, it is a fun topic, you know, when it obviously has the topic of strikers. My experience was through the ranks and climbing through the ladder as a player. A striker needs to have a lot of confidence, he needs to believe in himself. He obviously has to enjoy the game first and foremost, but you have to develop a mindset that you ‘never give up’ and always move on to the next play.

When I especially see young strikers breaking into the game and they miss chances, they get kind of frustrated, they get kind of down on themselves and then they start to doubt themselves. They always tell young players to never think about what they just did. Never think about the past or missed chances. You always have to think about the next chance that will come along.

The beauty of football or sports in general is that there is always is next occasion coming up to prove yourself. There is always a next game. You have to develop a mindset, an approach and an attitude that you’ll always think about the next move, the next opportunity, the next chance that comes in a game or in a training session. This is a very, very important topic for all the athletes, that no matter what sport that you always leave the negative experiences you go through.

For the strikers, it is specifically the missed chances you just had. Leave that aside and move on to the next occasion because the beauty of a striker is that you might miss 10 chances in the game, but at the final moment, you get another chance and you score and that could be the winning goal.

Nobody will then talk about the missed chances, because everybody will talk about the one you put in the back of the net. So I always try to tell young strikers when they come through their development stage that never get angry about what you just missed, always think about next opportunity that comes up and then they’re gonna score.” said Jürgen Klinsmann.

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