In this episode Jurgen Klinsmann joins Gary Neville, Jill Scott, Roy Keane and Ian Wright to discuss his incredible career, from signing for Tottenham on Alan Sugar’s yacht to facing Diego Maradona and winning the World Cup with Germany. Klinsmann opens up on his famous rivalry with Lothar Matthaus, explains why Germany always seemed to find a way to beat England in major tournaments, and reveals the lesson that changed his life while playing in Italy. The former Spurs striker also shares the story behind his iconic dive celebration, reflects on working under Arsène Wenger and Franz Beckenbauer, and gives his verdict on England’s chances at the 2026 World Cup. Plus, Klinsmann discusses Maradona’s genius, Harry Kane’s move away from Spurs, and the one thing England still need to become world champions.
00:00 – Intro
03:45 – Jonathan Klinsmann’s recovery
16:00 – Growing up in a bakery
28:30 – Learning life lessons in Italy
39:00 – Why Germany beat England
51:00 – The reality of playing against Maradona
55:00 – Arsène Wenger the educator
01:04:00 – Signing for Spurs on Alan Sugar’s yacht
01:09:00 – The iconic dive celebration
01:14:00 – Teddy Sheringham partnership
01:34:00 – Rebuilding Germany
01:41:00 – World Cup favourites
Key Quotes:
Klinsmann on how he felt after his son’s recent injury…
‘My son is a goalkeeper. Last season he was voted best goalkeeper in Serie B which is equivalent to the Championship. He was doing extremely well, was called in by Maurizio Pochettino for two camps and had a good chance to go to this summer’s World Cup. Four weeks ago, a game in Palermo, a midfielder from Palermo crashed into him when he was on the ground, he caught a ball, and he lost his balance and that midfielder then smashed his knee into the back of his head and he broke his neck. I have to be honest; it completely took me off balance for several weeks. I flew over right away, and my wife came as well, and it was like walking in fog because I’m not a medical person and I don’t know the severity of certain things. It just took me a while. It will be a long road of recovery, but he will recover 100%.’
Klinsmann on what position he wanted to play…
‘I just wanted to score goals. I was just driven by goals. I was not driven by jogging the ball around or just doing anything technically crazy. I knew where the goal is, just give me the ball and I will take care of it somehow.’
Klinsmann on what he learnt from Trapattoni at Inter Milan…
‘Italian football has the culture of not to lose. First and foremost, you cannot lose. For me, it was very difficult to comprehend because I wanted to score goals. I was lucky that Trapattoni at least played with two strikers. Today, nobody plays with two strikers in a partnership anymore. I realised then you got to be on your game in the last 15-20 minutes. I had no problems with it because I was a runner.’
Klinsmann on England…
‘The little piece that is still missing from England is confidence. It takes that one big win. I always said Harry Kane needs to leave. Harry needs to leave to get the feeling of winning something and then horribly enough the first season he didn’t win because of Leverkusen. Once you get that taste then you start to want more.’
Klinsmann on the manager he learnt the most from…
‘I try to learn from everyone such as Franz Beckenbauer for our generation of the 90 World Cup generation and he was a father figure. I looked outside and then he stood there and sometimes he was a bit bored, but his charisma and his positivity got you back in line. Without saying anything to you. His presence made you believe and made you calm. In 1990 we had no media pressure because it was all on Franz Beckenbauer and he was just smiling and so he was very influential to me.’
Klinsmann on having Franz Beckenbauer as a coach…
‘The first couple of years his personality was very motivational. He was giving you confidence but then after he lost in the 1986 World Cup final against Argentina, he became fanatical and very driven in details. He knew everything about every opponent that we faced in the World Cup because he said I’m not going to finish second again and that was his drive.’
Klinsmann on playing against Maradona…
‘He was always an artist that couldn’t control his brain, so he was always chasing his own brain because his thoughts were always ahead of time on the field. He saw things ahead of time before he got the ball, he knew already where this ball needs to go and who he needs to feed it to. He had a 360-degree vision. Then off the field his brain becomes his biggest struggle because then drugs came into his life.’
Klinsmann on working with Arsene Wenger…
‘The philosophy he had of playing was attack minded football. It was fast paced and that impressed me the most with Arsene. He was an educator. For him, the education of the players was more important than actually winning the title at the end of the day.’
Klinsmann on how he signed for Spurs…
‘I came back from the World Cup in America. I sat in my apartment in Monte Carlo and then suddenly Alan Sugar who was the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur at the time asked to talk and see if I was interested. He was on his yacht in a harbour. The Tottenham coach was Osvaldo Ardiles and I adored Argentinian football. The conversation was done in 10 minutes. I didn’t know much about the Premier League at that time I didn’t know much about London and the dynamics, and I said I’ll go there and experience it.’
Klinsmann on his relationship with Lothar Matthaus…
‘I had a very tense relationship with Lothar Matthäus because our characters were very different and total opposites. We constantly gave each other additional energy. He was the player I played the most games in my entire career and we never realised that. We played at Inter Milan together and at Bayern Munich, so we realised well we have so much actually in common, but we were going at each other verbally. We were just so different the way we looked at life and how we looked at things but throughout those years there was such a huge admiration from my end to him. It has become such a great and respectful friendship.’
Klinsmann on whether if he prefers playing or managing Germany…
‘Playing is the best. I never thought I will manage a team. I did all the coaching licences because Bertie Vogts my former coach he wanted a group of players to go down the coaching route. He organised a special coaching course for us, never thought it would happen as I lived in the United States. Then the fiasco happened, they lost in a group stage in 2004 European Championship in Portugal and they were heavily criticised so that’s when Bertie asked me to be coach.’
Stick to Football is brought to you by Arne Clothing – to watch the full podcast episode with Jurgen Klinsmann, Gary Neville, Jill Scott, Roy Keane and Ian Wright visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81D9gWSgF4k