Jurgen Klopp is reportedly backing a new $665,000 padel sports centre in Liverpool. The German icon’s son, Marc, is part of a quartet that has secured a contract to establish a padel club in the city.
Out-of-use tennis courts are set to be transformed into a buzzing padel hub. Padel, one of the fastest-growing sports globally, has won over Klopp, who recently proclaimed: “Padel is, besides football, the best game I’ve ever played. I’ve only known it in the last five years or so but since then I’m really addicted to it. It’s really fun to play.”
Klopp, who congratulated his former club on the title win, even launched his own padel range with Wilson earlier this year, with a racket costing around $350. He said: “While I’ve spent my career focused on coaching football at the highest level, padel has become my favorite sport to play. It’s truly the same passion, just for a new game.”
After leaving Liverpool at season’s close following nearly nine years, Klopp, awarded the Freedom of the City in 2022, assured: “If the city needs me, I’m always there.”
He’s now living up to that commitment with a significant contribution to local sports offerings. The $665k venture will see padel facilities erected on a plot spanning 1.5 acres in the Wavertree district.
Marc Klopp’s enterprise, Padel FC, looks poised to receive a 25-year lease from Liverpool City Council for the site, currently home to abandoned tennis courts and a parking area.
(Image: Chris Neill)
Last year, in 2023, Liverpool City Council sought proposals for a padel project on the premises. Out of two bids presented to the council in September, Padel FC was chosen.
Klopp’s financial support for the project further cements his legacy in Liverpool. As the head coach of the Premier League outfit, he clinched the Premier League title, Champions League trophy and a slew of domestic honours.
Post-Liverpool, Klopp has embraced a new challenge as the head of global football at Red Bull. He is responsible for all sporting affairs within the group’s multi-club initiative, which includes RB Leipzig, RB Salzburg and New York Red Bulls.
(Image: Chris Neill)
He is set to return to Liverpool in the coming weeks after his former club claimed the Premier League title under successor Jurgen Klopp. The Reds confirmed that Klopp will be a guest speaker at the LFC Foundation’s Gala Ball on May 23.
The event coincides with the final weekend of the Premier League season, when Liverpool will be presented with the Premier League title after the game against Crystal Palace. Klopp has reached out to Slot since the title was confirmed.
“I assume it is Jurgen,” said Slot when asked about who had contacted him “He said what most of them said. He said congratulations and now you know how special of a club it is and now you are a part of history as well, these kinds of things. He was really happy for me, the players, the staff and the fans, like we all know Jurgen.”
