BERLIN: Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann stepped down on Friday following the team`s early World Cup exit, and the German Football Association said its board was in talks with Juergen Klopp to replace him.

Germany`s defeat to Paraguay on penalties marked a third consecutive disappointing World Cup campaign after first-round exits in 2018 and 2022. The four-time worldchampions last lifted the trophy in 2014.

`My top priority has always been the team`s success. After such a bitter disappointment, they deserve the chance for a fresh start,` Nagelsmann said in a statement. ` Nagelsmann, 38, who took charge in 2023 and became the youngest coach to lead a team in a World Cup knockout match in four decades, had said after the defeat that he was `not someone to say`I`m stepping down` just because we were eliminated.

`The German Football Association expressly thanks Julian Nagelsmann for his work since September 2023,` DFB President Bernd Neuendorf said in a statement.

The board said it had begun conversations with former Liverpool manager Klopp, who has signalled `general willingness` to consider the position.-Reuters