On This Day: UCL-winning manager Klopp was born; Barcelona signed Rakitic

Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (June 16th) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, feel free to post them in the comment area and share them with AFers.

On this day in 1967 - Champions League winning manager Jurgen Klopp was born

As a player, Klopp spent the majority of his career at Mainz 05 in the second tier of German football after signing for the club in 1990. A hard-working and physical player, he was initially deployed as a striker, before converting to play as a defender for the rest of his career. Upon his retirement in 2001, Klopp became the club's manager, leading them to promotion to the Bundesliga in 2004. After suffering relegation in the 2006–07 season and being unable to achieve promotion the following campaign, Klopp resigned at Mainz in 2008, departing as the club's longest-serving manager.

Klopp then became manager of Borussia Dortmund, guiding them to the Bundesliga title in 2010–11. The next season Klopp guided Dortmund to their first ever domestic double as they scored a then-record number of points in a season and registered a then record-equalling number of wins to win the 2011–12 Bundesliga, and won the DFB-Pokal. In 2013, he guided Dortmund to the UEFA Champions League Final, where they lost 2–1 to Bayern Munich. He left Dortmund in 2015 as their longest-serving manager.

Following Brendan Rodgers' dismissal in 2015, Klopp was appointed manager of Liverpool and led them to the finals of that season's EFL Cup and UEFA Europa League, both of which they lost. Klopp has since led the club to successive UEFA Champions League finals; losing 3–1 to Real Madrid in 2018, then winning 2–0 against Tottenham Hotspur in 2019 to secure his first European title. He led Liverpool to second in the 2018–19 Premier League as they scored 97 points, the third-highest total in the history of the English top division and the most points scored by a team without winning the title.

On this day in 2014 - Barcelona confirmed the signing of Ivan Rakitic

Spanish giants Barcelona agreed to sign Croatia midfielder Ivan Rakitic on a five-year contract from La Liga rivals Sevilla. In his first season with Barça, he won the treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. He scored the first goal of the 2015 Champions League Final and became the first player ever to win the Champions League a year after winning the Europa League while playing for two clubs. 

And Catalans announced that it had reached an agreement with Ivan Rakitic to extend his contract through to 30 June 2021.on March 9, 2017. Will the Croatian stay in Barca this summer amid tranfer rumours?

On this day in 2010 - Spain started the World Cup with a shocking 1-0 loss to Switzerland

It turned out to be Spaniard's only loss of the tournament. When the two teams met in Durban, the Swiss provided one of the tournament's biggest upsets. Although Spain dominated possession (67% to 33%) and outshot Switzerland 22 to 6, the day's only goal came from Swiss midfielder Gelson Fernandes (pictured) in the 52nd minute, when he reached the ball after a goalmouth scramble and fired it home just before Spanish keeper Iker Casillas could knock it away.

Not content to sit on their lead, Switzerland pressed forward and almost doubled their lead with a shot that hit the post. Spain, meanwhile, almost found an equalizer, but were denied by the bar.The 1-0 final was Switzerland's first-ever win over Spain.

Spain apparently took the loss as a wake-up call, going on to win every one of their remaining matches to lift the cup, while Switzerland followed the victory with a draw and a loss to exit the tournament at the end of the group stage.

On this day 1950 - An all-star match inaugurated the new Municipal Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Now known as the Maracanã

The stadium was built for the 1950 World Cup with a capacity of just under 200,000, making it was one of the world's largest stadiums at the time. Construction began in 1948 was not fully completed for the opening match--the stadium still lacked toilets and showed signs of ongoing work. Nevertheless, a group of Rio de Janeiro All-Stars defeated a group of São Paulo All-Stars 3-1, with Fluminense midfielder Valdir "Didi" Pereira scoring the first goal for the home side.

The stadium's most famous match, nicknamed the "Maracanazo," came in the 1950 World Cup, as Uruguay upset Brazil to claim the trophy. It was also the place where Pelé scored "O Milésimo," his 1,000th career goal, in 1969.

Since then, it has hosted matches for Rio's four prominent clubs, Vasco da Gama, Botafogo, Flamengo, and Fluminense. In 1966, it was renamed the Estadio Jornálista Mário Filho, after a local journalist who championed the stadium's construction. But it is still known as the Maracanã, after a local river which, in turn, is named after a type of parrot common to the area.

In 2014, the Maracanã hosted the World Cup final, with Germany beating Argentina 1-0. And on July 7th 2019, Maracana will host the Copa America Final, Will Messi and his teammates end their national team hoodoo there?