Klopp Suspended For Southampton Match Following FA Appeal

Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

The manager will miss the Saints match tomorrow as punishment for a red card received in last month’s match against Manchester City.

When Liverpool head to Southampton tomorrow evening, Jürgen Klopp will not be on the touchline. After initially getting away with just a £30,000 fine for his red card in Liverpool’s 1-0 victory over Manchester City in October, Jürgen Klopp will now have to serve a one-match ban.

The FA had filed an appeal with the independent regulatory commission which doled out the (admittedly lenient) initial punishment last week. They requested that the commission reconsider suspending the German manager for his verbal tirade against one of the linesmen in that victory over City.

It was then announced by the FA today that the appeal had been successful and Klopp would receive a one-match ban with immediate effect. The ban is for a breach of FA rule E3, which refers to “comments which are improper, which bring the game into disrepute, which are threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting”.

The announcement included the below statement from the FA:

“As a result, the Liverpool FC manager has been suspended from the touchline for one match with immediate effect, fined £30,000, and warned as to his future conduct.

“Jurgen Klopp had previously admitted that he breached FA Rule E3 during their Premier League match against Manchester City FC on Sunday 16 October 2022 and received a sanction of £30,000.”

While the suspension is deserved and it’s not surprising that the appeal was successful, it is still frustrating for a variety of reasons that I explained in great detail upon hearing that the FA had appealed the initial punishment last week.

Unfortunately, all we can do is hope Klopp’s outburst will lead to greater scrutiny of match officials (it won’t) and that the FA will take action against the chants and songs doing much more harm than Klopp’s comments (they won’t).

Expect to see assistant manager Pep Lijnders manning the touchline in Klopp’s absence tomorrow.