Jürgen Klopp has stunned Liverpool and the world of football by announcing he is to leave the club at the end of the season. The 56-year-old attributed his shock decision to “running out of energy”.

Klopp has been Liverpool manager since 2015 and is under contract until 2026 but, in an announcement via the club’s media channel, has revealed he will stand down two years early. The players were told by Klopp before training on Friday.

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The news will come as a devastating blow to Liverpool supporters – who idolise the charismatic German – and also to the squad and the owner, Fenway Sports Group, whose appointment of the former Borussia Dortmund coach transformed the club’s fortunes.

Liverpool insist no one has been approached about the possibility of replacing Klopp but the former midfielder Xabi Alonso, who has guided Bayer Leverkusen to the top of the Bundesliga, is likely to be under consideration.

Related: Jürgen Klopp to leave Liverpool at end of this season, plus transfer news – live

Under Klopp Liverpool have won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Club World Cup. They reached another Carabao Cup final on Wednesday and have a five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, albeit having played one game more.

Klopp said he had told the owners in November of his intention to leave. “I can understand that it’s a shock for a lot of people in this moment, when you hear it for the first time, but obviously I can explain it – or at least try to explain it,” he said.

“I love absolutely everything about this club, I love everything about the city, I love everything about our supporters, I love the team, I love the staff. I love everything. But that I still take this decision shows you that I am convinced it is the one I have to take.

“It is that I am, how can I say it, running out of energy. I have no problem now, obviously, I knew it already for longer that I will have to announce it at one point, but I am absolutely fine now. I know that I cannot do the job again and again and again and again.

“After the years we had together and after all the time we spent together and after all the things we went through together, the respect grew for you, the love grew for you and the least I owe you is the truth – and that is the truth.”

Klopp said there were no underlying health issues for his departure. “I am OK. I am healthy, as much as you can be at my age. I told the club already in November. I have to explain a little bit that maybe the job I do people see from the outside, I’m on the touchline and in training sessions and stuff like this, but the majority of all the things happen around these kind of things.

Since Jürgen Klopp joined Liverpool in October 2015, he has won a string of major honours …
Premier League 2020
Champions League 2019
FA Cup 2022
League Cup 2022
Uefa Super Cup 2019
Club World Cup 2019

In addition, he has been recognised individually for his achievements during his time at Anfield…
The Best Fifa Men's Coach 2019, 2020
World Soccer Manager of the Year 2019
Premier League Manager of the Season 2019-20, 2021-22
LMA Manager of the Year 2019-20, 2021-22
LMA Hall of Fame Inducted 2019
BBC Spoty Coach of the Year 2020

He was also awarded the Freedom of the City of Liverpool in 2022

“That means a season starts and you plan pretty much the next season already. When we sat there together talking about potential signings, the next summer camp and can we go wherever, the thought came up: ‘I am not sure I am here then any more,’ and I was surprised myself by that. I obviously start thinking about it.

“It didn’t start [then], but of course last season was kind of a super-difficult season and there were moments when at other clubs probably the decision would have been: ‘Come on, thank you very much for everything but probably we should split here, or end it here.’ That didn’t happen here, obviously. For me it was super-, super-, super-important that I can help to bring this team back on to the rails. It was all I was thinking about. When I realised pretty early that happened, it’s a really good team with massive potential and a super age group, super characters and all that, then I could start thinking about myself again and that was the outcome. It is not what I want to do, it is just what I think is 100% right. That’s it.”

The assistant managers Pepijn Lijnders and Peter Krawietz, and the elite development coach Vitor Matos, will also leave at the end of the season. Lijnders wants to pursue a managerial career.

FSG’s president, Mike Gordon, said of Klopp: “His many accomplishments will never be taken for granted. To appropriate an adage synonymous with another Liverpool managerial great, Jürgen Klopp ‘made the people happy’ and we have total confidence he will continue to do so until his eventual departure.”

Alonso, preparing for Leverkusen’s game at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday, was asked about the Liverpool job. “At the moment, I am really happy here and enjoying my work here,” he said “I’m feeling each day and each game is a challenge and we are in an intense but in a beautiful journey here in Leverkusen. I am trying to give my best to help my players be ready for the next thing, and that’s my goal. What will come next, I don’t know.”