Klopp admits RBNY's new training center made him miss coaching

Red Bulls training center

The New York Red Bulls unveiled their new $112 million training facility on Wednesday, welcoming club icons including Thierry Henry, Dax McCarty, and Bradley Wright-Phillips, among others. Red Bull Global Head of Sport Jurgen Klopp also attended the ribbon-cutting, joking that the pristine complex made him consider a return to coaching.

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A big opening

The Red Bulls spared no expense for the opening of their new facility, even bringing in paragliders as part of the ceremony. But it was Jurgen Klopp who stole the show, admitting the state-of-the-art complex briefly made him reconsider life away from the touchline.

"This morning was a moment when I walked in and thought, 'oh, that's something I could miss,' because so far I didn't miss anything since I stepped down as a manager," Klopp said.

"But going into a building like that on a good weather day... thank god the weather was not great, otherwise I would have maybe gone back [to management]. Really cool."

Klopp, who stepped down from Liverpool FC in 2024, has been loosely linked with several jobs since leaving the Premier League. The 58-year-old is a Champions League winner and has three league titles - two with Borussia Dortmund and one with Liverpool - along with multiple domestic cups.

Despite that, Klopp has remained firm in his commitment to the Red Bull project, recently dismissing links to Real Madrid CF as "nonsense."

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'I didn't have to convince Brazil'

In addition to serving the New York Red Bulls, the facility will host a major tenant during the World Cup, with Brazil set to use it as their base.

Klopp insisted little persuasion was needed from Red Bull’s sporting side to secure one of the world’s most followed national teams.

"I didn't have to convince Brazil - they saw it and wanted to be here," Klopp said. "We just had to make sure they didn’t take over the entire building, because we have a soccer team ourselves."

"I didn’t have to convince anybody - and [Brazil head coach] Carlo [Ancelotti] definitely not. He knows what is good when he sees it, and he saw it."

Inside Brazil's Main Training Camp for FIFA World Cup 2026

Stars in the house

In addition to Klopp, Henry, McCarty, and Wright-Phillips, former top Red Bulls players like Mike Petke, Luis Robles and Ryan Meara were also in attendance.

The Red Bulls Performance Center is an 80-acre, state-of-the-art complex in Morris Township, New Jersey, built to bring the entire club under one roof - from first team to academy. The two-level, 88,000-plus sq. ft. main building sits alongside eight pitches, five of them heated for year-round use, with full high-performance infrastructure including hydrotherapy, a 5,000 sq. ft. wellness lab, and integrated player tracking technology. It’s a significant long-term investment that puts the Red Bulls in line with the top training environments in MLS.

"Every player’s journey looks different. It’s our job to create the best environments and scenarios for each of them to grow, to develop into their strengths, to understand that there is a real road from where they are to that first team. This facility is that road," Red Bull New York Head of Sport Julian de Guzman said.

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What comes next?

The New York Red Bulls will look to get back to action this Saturday when they face FC Cincinnati on the road.