Soccer-Klopp says Germany must reclaim national pride from 'wrong people'

Soccer Football - Nations League - Germany Press Conference - DFB Campus, Frankfurt, Germany - September 17, 2026 Germany head coach Jurgen Klopp arrives for the press conference REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

BERLIN, ⁠Sept 17 (Reuters) - Germany coach Juergen Klopp said on Thursday that he wanted to reclaim expressions of ⁠national pride from the "wrong people," in remarks widely seen as a rebuke to the ‌far right after the Alternative for Germany (AfD) won an election this month.

Speaking at a news conference to unveil a 44-man split squad for upcoming Nations League matches, Klopp said Germans should feel able to express pride in their country without being associated with ​extremism.

"I don't want to leave national pride to the wrong people," ⁠said Klopp, one of the country's most ⁠prominent public figures.

Without mentioning the AfD by name, he added that he would like to "reclaim the flag."

"I ⁠want ‌it so that when someone waves it, no one thinks: 'What is wrong with you?'," said Klopp.

"Instead, I want people to understand: You are happy and realise how lucky you were to be ⁠born, grow up, or move to this wonderful country," he said.

The ​AfD trounced mainstream parties to ‌win an election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on September 6, and could form the ⁠first far-right government ​at state level in postwar Germany there. It could also top the polls in another state election this weekend.

"There have been an incredible number of things happening recently: an election took place which some people probably thought was fine, ⁠whilst many others thought, ‘Good heavens, what on earth is going ​on?'," Klopp said.

An AfD spokesperson said the party would issue a statement later on Thursday.

'POSITIVE PATRIOTISM'

Wearing a cap with an Adidas logo in the colours of the German flag, Klopp acknowledged the sensitivity of patriotism in a ⁠country that has long viewed overt displays of national pride through the prism of its Nazi past.

The former Liverpool manager, who begins his tenure against the Netherlands on September 24, said he preferred the term "positive patriotism" to "national pride", which he feared could be misunderstood.

"Can you be proud to be German and still be ​open, diverse, nice and friendly - can you still show compassion?" Klopp said.

"I ⁠am 100 percent certain: Yes!"

The secretary general of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats, Franziska Hoppermann, welcomed Klopp's call ​to not leave Germany's symbols to the extremists.

"We all should, and ‌are allowed to, wear our national colours with pride ​and confidence as symbols of our freedom," she told Reuters.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray and Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; editing by Matthias Williams and Toby Davis)

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足球 - 欧洲国家联赛 - 德国新闻发布会 - 德国足协训练基地，法兰克福，德国 - 2026年9月17日 德国队主教练尤尔根·克洛普抵达新闻发布会现场 路透社/Kai Pfaffenbach

柏林，9 月 17 日（路透社）——德国队主教练尤尔根·克洛普周四表示，他希望从“错误的人”手中夺回表达民族自豪感的权力。此前，德国另类选择党（AfD）在本月的选举中获胜，克洛普的这番言论被广泛视为对极右翼的谴责。

克洛普在新闻发布会上公布了参加即将到来的欧洲国家联赛的 44 人分组名单，他表示，德国人应该能够在不与极端主义联系在一起的情况下表达对祖国的自豪感。

“我不想把民族自豪感交给错误的人，”克洛普说道，他是该国最杰出的公众人物之一。

他没有指名道姓地提及德国选择党，而是补充说他想“夺回旗帜”。

克洛普说：“我希望当有人挥舞它时，没有人会想：‘你脑子有病吗？’”

“相反，我希望人们明白：你们很幸福，并且意识到自己出生、成长或移居到这个美好的国家是多么幸运，”他说。

德国选择党（AfD）在9月6日举行的萨克森-安哈尔特州选举中击败主流政党，赢得胜利，并有可能在该州组建战后德国首个州级极右翼政府。该党也可能在本周末的另一项州选举中再次领先。

克洛普说：“最近发生了很多令人难以置信的事情：举行了选举，有些人可能觉得这没什么问题，而另一些人则想，‘我的天哪，这到底是怎么回事？’”

德国选择党发言人表示，该党将于周四晚些时候发表声明。

“积极的爱国主义”

克洛普戴着一顶印有德国国旗颜色的阿迪达斯标志的帽子，他承认，在一个长期以来一直透过纳粹历史的棱镜来看待公开表达民族自豪感的国家里，爱国主义是一个敏感的话题。

这位前利物浦主教练将于 9 月 24 日对阵荷兰的比赛中开始他的执教生涯。他表示，他更喜欢用“积极的爱国主义”而不是“民族自豪感”这个词，因为他担心后者可能会被误解。

克洛普说：“你既能为自己是德国人而感到自豪，又能保持开放、多元、友善的心态——你还能展现出同情心吗？”

我百分之百确定：是的！

德国总理弗里德里希·默茨所在的基督教民主联盟秘书长弗兰齐斯卡·霍珀曼对克洛普呼吁不要将德国的象征物拱手让给极端分子表示欢迎。

她告诉路透社：“我们都应该，也有权自豪自信地穿着我们的国旗颜色，作为我们自由的象征。”

（柏林 Miranda Murray 和 Andreas Rinke 以及班加罗尔 Pearl Josephine Nazare 报道；Matthias Williams 和 Toby Davis 编辑）

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