Jürgen Klopp’s first Germany squad announcement was about much more than football. The new Bundestrainer arrived at the DFB Campus wearing a black Adidas cap featuring the German colours and the words “Einer von 83 Millionen” — or “One of 83 million”. What initially looked like a playful Klopp gesture quickly became the centrepiece of a much broader conversation about football, national identity and Germany’s relationship with its flag.
It Started As A Joke
The cap initially had a playful purpose. With much of Klopp’s 44-player squad already circulating in the media before the official announcement, he challenged journalists to correctly guess one of the remaining names. Anyone who got it right would receive one of the caps. Around three dozen caps were specially made for the press conference. The idea came from Klopp rather than being an Adidas or DFB marketing product, and the caps were intended as gifts rather than merchandise.But Klopp made it clear that there was considerably more behind the cap than a joke.
A Philosophy Built Around Opportunity
From ’80 Million’ to ’83 Million’
The words “Einer von 83 Millionen” — “One of 83 million” — also carry a familiar football reference.
The phrase echoes Max Giesinger’s 2016 song “80 Millionen”, whose refrain included “Einer von 80 Millionen”. The song became closely associated with Germany’s Euro 2016 campaign after Giesinger released a football-themed version.
Klopp’s cap changes the number from 80 to 83, reflecting Germany’s approximate population today.
The wording also fits a familiar football joke: in Germany, almost everyone has an opinion on the national team and can jokingly be treated as a potential “Bundestrainer”, or national-team coach.
Klopp played into that idea during the press conference, inviting those who saw themselves as the national coach to take one of the caps.
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There Are A Lot Of Message In It
When asked whether the cap carried a message beyond football, Klopp confirmed that it did.
“There are a lot of messages in it, to be honest,” he said.
The first message was deliberately light-hearted. Klopp said football needed to retain its sense of fun.
“Life is serious enough,” he explained, arguing that without enjoyment, football would become an unpleasant sport.
But Klopp then moved from the humorous meaning of the cap to something much more serious: Germany’s national identity.
Why Klopp Wants To “Reclaim The Flag”?
Klopp referred to the recent election in Germany while stressing that he did not consider himself a political expert.
“I hope I won’t have to talk about political matters very, very often at press conferences in future, because I’m no expert in that area – I’m just an interested layman,” he said.
He nevertheless explained why he felt able to address the subject from his perspective as a sportsman.
“I’d like to reclaim the flag for myself or for us,” Klopp said.
He explained that he wanted people to be able to wave the German flag without others immediately questioning their motives.
“I’d like it so that, when you wave it, nobody thinks, ‘What’s wrong with you?’”
Instead, Klopp said he wanted people to feel happy about living in Germany and appreciate the fact that they were fortunate to have been born, raised or moved to what he called “this wonderful country”.
He then explained the thinking behind another phrase that became central to his comments.
“To be honest, I don’t want to leave national pride to the wrong sort of people,” Klopp said.
At the same time, he acknowledged that the phrase “national pride” could itself be misunderstood. He said he preferred to describe the idea as “positive patriotism”.
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Looking At What Germany Has
Klopp’s comments about national identity also mirrored the philosophy he had described when explaining his squad selection.
He said he felt an enormous sense of pride in taking on the Germany job and described Germany as “a wonderful country”.
He then connected that feeling to his approach to the squad, saying he had not focused on what Germany did not have but instead looked at what it did have.
Klopp was careful not to suggest that football could solve Germany’s wider problems. Instead, he argued that occasionally recognising the positive things a country possesses could be useful.
His argument also extended to the role of sport in society.
Klopp pointed out that doctors, nurses and people working in many other professions were more important to society in practical terms. But when people come together around sport, he said football can help them “feel better” and “develop a sense of community”.
For Klopp, that shared experience is part of what makes sport valuable beyond the result.
Pride Without Closing The Door
Klopp eventually brought the message back to the cap itself.
“So you can be proud to be German and still be open-minded, diverse and kind and friendly,” he said. “Can you feel compassion? Can you have all these things? I’m one hundred per cent sure you can.”
He then returned to the cap as a symbol of that idea: people could wear it if they wanted to, or simply think about the message without wearing one.
The comments came amid recent political developments in Germany. Reuters reported that Klopp’s remarks were widely interpreted in the context of the Alternative for Germany (AfD)’s recent election victory in Saxony-Anhalt. Klopp did not name the AfD during his press conference; his comments focused more generally on the election, national pride and the German flag.
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More Than One Message On A Cap
By the end of the press conference, “Einer von 83 Millionen” had become more than a line on a baseball cap.
It began as a playful idea surrounding Klopp’s first Germany squad announcement. But through his own explanation, the cap became a way for him to talk about opportunity, development, football, German identity, national pride and what he called positive patriotism.
The footballing side remained central. Klopp named 44 players across two groups for Germany’s four upcoming UEFA Nations League fixtures, while stressing that the selection was not final and that players who were not included still had opportunities ahead.
For Klopp, however, the start of his Germany tenure was not simply about choosing players.
It was also about creating an atmosphere around the national team — one built on opportunity, development, community and a form of national pride that he believes can coexist with openness, diversity, kindness and compassion.
