Jurgen Klopp was at one of the world's biggest sporting events on Thursday, but he wasn't on the sideline.
Instead, the former Liverpool manager was in the stands at Porte de La Chapelle Arena to cheer on his friend Wojtek Czyz during the first day of competition at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Czyz, a former German citizen who was born in Poland, is a four-time Paralympic gold medalist in para athletics. Now representing New Zealand, he took to the court to compete in the men's singles SL3 para badminton competition.
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Czyz had just signed his first professional soccer deal with SC Fortuna Koln in 2001 when he suffered a career-ending injury that resulted in the amputation of his left leg.
Klopp, who is German, has been friends with Czyz for more than 20 years after meeting him at a charity soccer match.
Czyz went on to lose his group stage match against Daniel Bethell of Great Britain on Thursday. He will return to the court on Friday for a contest against Oleksandr Chyrkov of Ukraine.
