Klopp and Müller enjoy padel in Mexico City before World Cup opener

Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Müller traded the World Cup stage for a padel session in Mexico City, turning a casual off-field stop into a scene that spread fast across German and Mexican social media. The clip, shared through Müller’s account, showed two of German football’s most recognizable figures leaning into the sport as the 2026 tournament build-up intensified around them.

Klopp and Müller were in Mexico City as part of MagentaTV’s World Cup coverage, and Robert Andrich was also with the group at the stadium. The sight of the trio at Estadio Ciudad de México drew immediate attention because the venue was already under the spotlight as the opening-match site for Mexico’s first World Cup game against South Africa.

The stadium itself had only recently changed hands. FIFA took control of the former Estadio Banorte on May 14, after a short delay to allow local clubs to finish their playoff schedule, and the venue was set to operate during the tournament as Estadio Ciudad de México. It was scheduled to host five World Cup matches, including the June 11 opener that placed the city at the center of the tournament’s first-day logistics.

Mexico’s government also moved to clear the way for the inauguration. Public and private office work was suspended on June 11 to reduce traffic and make access easier around the stadium, a sign of how carefully managed the opening day would be in a city preparing for a major influx of fans, media and officials.

Inside the stadium, the German duo became a sideshow of their own. TUDN reported that fans recognized Klopp and Müller as soon as they entered and moved toward them, and the mood around the pair was notably upbeat. Müller also gave a direct prediction for the opener when asked about the match, answering “México.”

That is the larger story behind the padel moment: the sport keeps showing up where football’s most visible figures gather, especially in places where the World Cup still dominates the public conversation. In Mexico City, the appearance gave padel another brush with elite football culture, and it put the game in front of a football-heavy audience already paying attention to every movement around the opening match.