Jurgen Klopp’s favorite coach
American Ted Lasso coaches fictional Premier League club AFC Richmond. Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp recommends everyone to watch the series
Quelle: Getty Images for WarnerMedia/27th Annual SAG Awards
The football series “Ted Lasso” is entering its third season. Leading actor Jason Sudeikis has a prominent fan in Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp. He raves about his character Lasso. He even calls him a role model.
Er is one of the most famous football coaches in the world – without ever having coached a real club. US actor Jason Sudeikis (47) is Ted Lasso, the hero of the hit comedy series of the same name on Apple TV+ (free trial subscription for new customers for seven days, after that the monthly fee is 6.99 euros). The third and probably last season of the football show starts worldwide on March 15th.
That’s what it’s about: Lasso, actually an American football coach from the USA, trains the fictitious club AFC Richmond in the English Premier League – with many glitches and gags! Trademark: his mustache! Guest stars such as Gary Lineker and Thierry Henry appear on the show. José Mourinho stars in a trailer.
What not many people know: Ted Lasso is Jürgen Klopp’s favorite coach.
The Liverpool coach finds Ted Lasso “awesome”, calls the program a “must see”, as he revealed in the ARD podcast by Arnd Zeigler (“Ball you need is love”) – and even describes him as an absolute role model. However, Kloppo knows a bit more about football…
What does Ted Lasso say about this? He laughs in the interview: “I would agree, definitely. He also has the prettier smile. It means the world to me to hear something like that. That’s a huge compliment. This is so heartwarming. Especially when something like that comes from Coach Klopp.”
Klopp was challenged to play skat
Klopp even inspired Ted Lasso so much that he “stole” one of the German’s actions. In fact, he invited the players to sing karaoke on his show after seeing Klopp do it.
Ted Lasso: “I love it when Coach Klopp does something with his team. Gregg Popovich, coach of the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA, is a similar guy. With him it is also the case that the team is seen as a family and that is transferred to the field. That was always important to me as a team athlete.”
The main actors of the series Ted Lasso: Nick Mohammed, Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt (from left)
Quelle: pa/Everett Collection/©Apple TV/Courtesy Everett Collection
Brendan Hunt (51) is Ted Lasso’s assistant coach Coach Beard – and also one of the creators of the series, which was nominated for 30 Emmys in the first two seasons. He once challenged Klopp to a game of skat while he was drunk.
Coach Beard: “I was at a Liverpool game and I was supposed to meet him after the final whistle. But they lost, so he took off. I was then taken to his office anyway. I had a deck of skat in my pocket. They then made a video and wanted to give it to him later: ‘Jürgen, watch out! I want to play skat with you!’ I was pretty drunk and I don’t know if he ever saw the video.”
What influence does Jurgen Klopp have on Ted Lasso?
Coach Beard: “He’s exactly the type of coach Ted Lasso likes him to be. Heavy metal football is a term Ted is very fond of. Klopp is also someone who is totally supportive of his players, who is there for them and puts his arm around them and cheers them up when they are down. Jürgen Klopp is the German Ted Lasso.”
The text was written for the sports competence center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD) and first published in BILD AM SONNTAG.
