Klinsmann accepts TV job, shuts door on Chelsea

AFP - 26 April 2007 10:06

Juergen Klinsmann, former coach of the German national football team before a press conference in Frankfurt am Main, July 2006. Klinsmann has accepted a job with German TV, apparently ruling himself out of becoming coach of English Premiership champions Chelsea, a report said on Thursday.

BERLIN (AFP) - Former Germany boss Juergen Klinsmann has accepted a job with German TV, apparently ruling himself out of becoming coach of English Premiership champions Chelsea, a report said on Thursday.

Klinsmann will work for as an analyst and commentator for pay-TV channel Arena for the next two years, Bild newspaper reported.

He will fly to Germany from his home in California for major Bundesliga games, the report said.

"I had many offers after the World Cup to return to Europe, but Arena is the first partner that has really won me over," Klinsmann said, quoted by Bild.

It has been reported this month that Chelsea's billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich has approached Klinsmann with a view to him replacing Jose Mourinho, but the Portuguese coach appears to have patched up his differences with Abramovich.

Klinsmann, 42, led host nation Germany to the semi-finals of last year's World Cup, moulding a young and relatively unfancied squad into an exciting attacking team.

But he stepped down immediately after the tournament, saying he did not want to uproot his family and his American wife from the United States.

As a player, Klinsmann helped Germany win the 1990 World Cup and played for Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Tottenham.