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Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has been awarded the Federal Order of Merit by Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The ex-Liverpool boss was among 28 recipients honoured for “outstanding contributions to the values of democracy.”

The 57-year-old has been given the award for his remarkable contributions to Germany’s democracy despite being just a football coach.

Klopp had a fairly mediocre career as a player but joined the coaching staff at his club Mainz as soon as he retired.

There, it rapidly became clear his career in the dugout had greater potential than his years on the pitch.

He led Mainz to promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in the club’s history in 2004.

The German then led Borussia Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2010 and 2011.

After leaving Dortmund in 2015, Klopp joined Liverpool, where he spent nine successful years, winning eight trophies, including the club’s first league title in more than a quarter of a century to the city and the 2019 Champions League.

Klopp called an outstanding football ambassador

German broadcaster Tagesschau presenter Susanne Daubner moderated the event, introducing Klopp as the recipient of the award, saying that the former coach “became a great role model for many and an outstanding football ambassador, far beyond the world of sport.”

Speaking after receiving the award, a modest Klopp asked, “Why me.

And for what?”

The 57-year-old then added that he felt “very humble today” to be among “extraordinary people with such extraordinary stories.”

Klopp also spoke about his near-ten-year stay in the UK and the contributions he made there.

“I was honored for the role I played in the relationship between Germany and England.

We showed that Germans are pretty ok as well,” Klopp said. 

“The other way around as well, that’s what I experienced, because when I arrived in England 2015/2016, Brexit came up, and I was really happy to see what most of the Brits are — really good people.”

The latest award shows how popular and influential Jurgen Klopp is.

The ex-Liverpool coach, who was once nicknamed “the most popular German in the UK,” has previously won the 2019 German Football Ambassador Award.

He was also the inaugural winner of the German-British Friendship Award in 2021.

Meanwhile, Klopp also spoke about his return to management, having been linked with the German national team job.