Klopp celebrated his first successes in professional sport from 1990 to 2008 for the 1st FSV Mainz 05, first as a player and from 2001 as a coach. In 2008 he moved to Borussia Dortmund, where he became German Champion in 2011 and 2012 and won the double in 2012. Klopp has been team manager at FC Liverpool since October 2015. With this club he was again a finalist of the UEFA Champions League in 2018. The hype around FC Liverpool and coach Jürgen Klopp has reached new dimensions from the first day of his work at Mersey. “The Normal One”, as Klopp calls himself, inspires not only the English fans with his football, but also the fans all over the world and thus positively shapes the image of the German coach abroad. For his prize money he chose the South African Hout Bay United Football Community (HBUFC) with the project “Joy Is Round”, in which he is involved as an ambassador for the good cause.
HBUFC’s mission is to use football to get the most out of youth in the different Hout Bay communities and to promote them through empowerment and mentorship, strengthening the whole community. They aim to manage and develop successful football initiatives at all ages from 7 to 18, combined with educational support, life skills improvement and mentoring programs for the Hout Bay United football community.