‘I Played a Champions League Final For Jurgen Klopp – Now I’ll Soon Be Bankrupt’

In the modern era, there are few managers as charismatic as Jurgen Klopp. Liverpoolfans got to enjoy his brilliance for a number of years, as he won the Premier League, Champions League and more during his time at Anfield.

Before coming to England, however, the German established himself as a top coach in his home country. After starting out with former club Mainz 05, he moved to Borussia Dortmund in 2015 and quickly showed how special he was.

He led Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles in 2011 and 2012, and also took his team to a Champions League final. Playing a key role in that success for Neven Subotic.

The centre-back actually worked with Klopp at Mainz, before following him to the Signal Iduna Park. In total, Subotic played 282 times under the iconic German coach, winning those aforementioned league titles, as well as two DFB-Pokals and two DFL-Supercups. He also started the 2013 Champions League final defeat to Bayern Munich.

The Serbian international eventually left Dortmund in 2018 and retired from football three years later. Since then, he’s gone on to live a very different life away from the sport. 

Neven Subotic Now Has a Charity Foundation

In 2012, the former defender founded the Neven Subotic Foundation, which works to give all people access to clean water as a human right, with a particular focus in Ethiopia. Former manager Klopp was so impressed by the work, he wrote in the foreword of Subotic’s book:

“Neven began to transform himself from a footballer into a saint.”

Subotic was recently asked about this, and his continuing charity work in an interview with German outlet Welt. On Klopp’s comment, the defender replied: “I see it as a great honor coming from someone who is careful with his choice of words and at the same time knows how to truly value people. But playing the role of a saint is difficult to bring to life. Because I also make mistakes.”

He explained how he started out spending his money from football in ways that left him unfulfilled, but learned to change his ways. He now plans on giving away his entire fortune: 

“I had fast cars, a villa with a jacuzzi. It was acting without thinking, simply extreme. That changed in 2010: Then I wanted control, and in 2012 I founded my foundation. And after retiring from my career, I decided to give everything to my foundation: my money, my time, my thoughts. To date, we have, among other things, provided 439,255 people with access to clean drinking water.”

Subotic explained how he loved football, but feels he is now doing something more important: “I had these amazing experiences of success in front of 80,000 fans. My mind was completely elsewhere, full of euphoria. It doesn’t save the world, but it’s simply wonderful.”

The report explains that the goal of Subotic’s charity is to provide drinking water to one million people by 2030, which is more than double what has been achieved so far. Explaining the process, he said:

“In our first year, we had a turnover of around 76,000 euros. Now we’re at almost five million euros a year. We’re trusted and entrusted with more, we have corporate partnerships, an ambassador program. This allows us to achieve more and continue to uphold our 100 percent promise.”

Subotic has total awareness that he will bankrupt himself if things continue, with his ‘fortune soon to be depleted’. After all, he has promised that every penny of every euro will reach its destination. As such, he has to cover all travel and administrative costs from his own personal funds. Completely willing to make such a commitment, the former Dortmund star said: 

“Indeed, my fortune will soon be depleted, yes. I’ve donated around four million euros and do volunteer work. I played professional football for 14 years, but my salaries were gross. And I didn’t have that many outstanding years with a million-euro salary. That was for a while at Borussia Dortmund. My money is finite. That’s why corporate partnerships are so important: they help me cover the foundation’s costs and thus its foundation.”

After all these years, and so much hard work, it was interesting to note that when asked if he could grab a drank with anyone, Subotic said he would cherish a moment with his former manager. He said, “I’d really love to have a beer with Jurgen Klopp.

“He’s had a profound impact on my life, but we never once had a quiet moment together. He had 30 players to look after. It would be wonderful to reflect together now and get his input.”