Kosicke has been part of Klopp's inner circle for many years and has followed him to every new posting, including his move to succeed the unsuccessful Julian Nagelsmann as Germany head coach earlier this year. Exactly what his role at the DFB actually involves, however, appears to be a matter of dispute.
At Klopp's unveiling press conference, federation president Bernd Neuendorf described the arrangement as an "external advisory relationship," while Klopp himself introduced Kosicke as "my assistant coach for strategy, development and innovation."
The precise nature of the job has not become any clearer since, with the DFB now declining to provide further detail on the business relationship despite several media inquiries, according to an investigation by Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The paper's report suggests the Kosicke situation could create genuine compliance problems for German football's governing body. Despite his officially external and loosely defined role, Neuendorf has said the former adviser, as Kosicke now describes himself, has "open doors all the way up to my presidential office," giving him considerable influence within the federation.
According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, Kosicke's professional ties across the football business run deep and include several companies with a clear interest in maintaining good relations with the DFB, and which stand to benefit financially as a result. It is not for nothing that Bayern Munich patriarch Uli Hoeness has already complained of a "friendly takeover" of the federation.
Among the murkier links: Kosicke, along with Klopp's son Marc, holds a stake in Onside Sports GmbH, one of the market leaders in organising friendly matches and training camps, whose client list includes numerous Bundesliga clubs and major international sides, among them Klopp's former club Liverpool.
The DFB would not tell the newspaper whether it could rule out any of its national teams using the company's services.
Kosicke also holds a stake in marketing giant Sportfive and owns the advisory firm Projekt B. Former national team manager Oliver Bierhoff was once part of that firm too, but had to step away amid "intense compliance debates" when he was appointed a DFB director. Pointedly, according to the newspaper, the DFB's advisory contract was not signed with Kosicke personally, but with the company itself.
The federation attempted to address these concerns in a statement to the Munchner Merkur in August: "In order to protect both him and the association from any suspicion of a conflict of interest arising from previous or current activities, he operates from an external and advisory role."
Whether that holds up remains an open question.