Joachim Löw

Joachim Löw

Löw in 2011
Personal information
Date of birth (1960-02-03) 3 February 1960
Place of birth Schönau, West Germany
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Germany (manager)
Youth career
TuS Schönau 1896
FC Schönau
Eintracht Freiburg
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1978–1980 SC Freiburg 71 (18)
1980–1981 VfB Stuttgart 4 (0)
1981–1982 Eintracht Frankfurt 24 (5)
1982–1984 SC Freiburg 65 (25)
1984–1985 Karlsruher SC 24 (2)
1985–1989 SC Freiburg 116 (38)
1989–1992 FC Schaffhausen
1992–1994 FC Winterthur
1994–1995 FC Frauenfeld
National team
1979–1980 West Germany U21 4 (0)
Teams managed
1994 FC Winterthur (youth)
1994–1995 FC Frauenfeld
1995–1996 VfB Stuttgart (assistant manager)
1996–1998 VfB Stuttgart
1998–1999 Fenerbahçe
1999–2000 Karlsruher SC
2000–2001 Adanaspor
2001–2002 FC Tirol Innsbruck
2003–2004 FK Austria Wien
2004–2006 Germany (assistant manager)
2006– Germany

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

Joachim Löw (German pronunciation: [ˈjoːaçɪm ˈløːf], born 3 February 1960) is a retired German footballer and current manager of the German national football team. In 2014, he led the German team to victory at the World Cup in Brazil.

Playing career

In 1978, Löw started his playing career with 2. Bundesliga club SC Freiburg. He returned to the club twice (1982, 1985) and holds the club's overall goal scoring record.[1] In 1980, Löw joined VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga, but he had difficulties establishing himself in the starting lineup and played only four matches.

In the 1981–82 season, Löw played for Eintracht Frankfurt (24 matches, five goals), but he returned to Freiburg the following year. In 1982–83, he scored eight goals in 34 matches, 1983–84 he scored 17 goals in 31 matches in the 2. Bundesliga. Afterwards, he returned to the Bundesliga with Karlsruher SC, but he only scored two goals in 24 matches. Later, he joined Freiburg again for four years, played 116 matches and scored 38 goals. Löw concluded his career in Switzerland, where he played for FC Schaffhausen (1989–1992) and FC Winterthur (1992–1994).

Löw played four times for the German national under-21 football team.

Managerial career

Early career

Löw started his coaching career as a youth coach for FC Winterthur while he was still active as a player. In 1994–95, he was player coach of FC Frauenfeld.

VfB Stuttgart

In 1995–1996, he was assistant coach of VfB Stuttgart with coach Rolf Fringer. As Fringer had the opportunity to become coach of the Swiss national team, Löw was promoted caretaker manager in August 1996 and finally team manager. With the so-called "Magic triangle" consisting of players Krasimir Balakov, Giovane Élber, and Fredi Bobic, the team played a successful season and won the 1996–97 DFB-Pokal. The following year, his team finished fourth in the Bundesliga and reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup, but they lost 1–0 against Chelsea.

Fenerbahçe

Löw left Stuttgart in July 1998 and joined Turkish club Fenerbahçe. In October 1999, he became coach of Karlsruher SC, but he could not avert relegation to the third division and was dismissed. From December 2000 to March 2001, Löw returned to Turkey as coach of Adanaspor, but he was again dismissed due to poor results.

Tirol Innsbruck

In October 2001, Löw became coach of Tirol Innsbruck and led the team to the Austrian championship in 2002. The same year, the club had to declare bankruptcy and was liquidated. Löw was once again unemployed. His last job on club level was with FK Austria Wien (June 2003 – March 2004).

German national team

Assistant manager

When Jürgen Klinsmann succeeded Rudi Völler as Germany coach following a disappointing Euro 2004, he brought Löw into the German setup as assistant manager. Klinsmann and Löw had met years earlier at a coaching school. They shared a philosophy focused on attacking football. Under their reign, Klinsmann and Löw's German team reached the semi-final stage at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Germany lost 3–2 to Brazil in the semi-final of the 2005 Confederations Cup. Germany defeated Mexico 4–3 in the third place encounter. Klinsmann and Löw's new attacking philosophy saw Germany score the most goals (15 in 5 matches) of any team in the tournament.

Germany opened the 2006 FIFA World Cup on 9 June in Munich with a 4–2 victory against Costa Rica in an exciting match. A last minute 1–0 win over Poland and a 3–0 over Ecuador followed. Germany defeated Sweden in the round of 16 with two Lukas Podolski goals, followed by a grueling battle with Argentina. In the penalties after finishing extra time at 1–1, the coaching staff gave Jens Lehmann a prepared list of possible Argentinian penalty takers and their preferred way to shoot, which was reported to have helped ensure Germany's victory. The semi-final match with Italy was a disappointment however, with the hosts falling 2–0 after reaching the 119th minute in extra time with the score at 0–0. However, Germany turned in a dominant performance against Portugal in the third place match, winning 3–1 on two Bastian Schweinsteiger goals.

Besides a focus on attacking football and youth development, Klinsmann's staff also introduced an alternative B-team: Team 2006, to experiment with new aspiring players suitable to play at the home World Cup. Also introduced were an enhanced fitness coaching staff, as well as Oliver Bierhoff as "Business Manager" – this job revolves around public relations, general management and everything not directly related to coaching – and finally a mental coach, Dr. Hans-Dieter Hermann, who has the job of preparing the German players for stressful situations in major tournaments.

Manager

Euro 2008
Löw and his assistant Hans-Dieter Flick in 2006

On 13 July 2006, following Klinsmann's decision not to renew his contract, Löw was named as the new manager of Germany. Löw obtained a contract for two years and announced that he wanted to continue in the philosophy developed with Klinsmann to play with an offensive style. Löw was particularly concerned with the amount of time his players hold on to the ball before passing. During his tenure, he reduced this time significantly, increasing the pace of the German game. He declared that his aim was to win Euro 2008. His first game in charge, a friendly against Sweden in Gelsenkirchen on 16 August 2006, was a 3–0 success in which Miroslav Klose scored twice and Bernd Schneider scored the other.

Löw had a successful start in qualifying for Euro 2008 with wins over Republic of Ireland and San Marino. On 7 October 2006, Germany won 2–0 against Georgia in the Ostseestadion in Rostock, which was the fourth consecutive success for Löw and his team, the best start of a new head coach of the German national team ever. The team extended this record to five wins in the next match, the Euro 2008 qualifier against Slovakia in Bratislava on 11 October, with a 4–1 victory. The Slovaks' strike was the first goal conceded by Germany under Löw's reign.

The next match saw the end of Löw's perfect record, with the 15 November qualifier in Nicosia against Cyprus ending in a disappointing 1–1 draw. Löw's first loss as manager came in his eighth game on 28 March 2007, an experimental squad lost 0–1 against Denmark. When qualification for Euro 2008 was ensured, Löw's record stood at 11 wins, one loss, and one draw from 13 matches and a 41:6 goal difference, this includes the first win over England in London's new Wembley Stadium.

At Euro 2008 Germany defeated Poland 2–0 in their first game, with two goals from Lukas Podolski. In their second game, Germany were beaten 2–1 by Croatia. In their final group game against Austria, Löw was sent to the stands by the referee Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez along with his Austrian counterpart Josef Hickersberger for arguing with the fourth official. Following his dismissal, he was seen talking to Angela Merkel, Germany's Chancellor, about the incident. Germany won the match 1–0 with a goal from Michael Ballack to progress to the quarter finals. Löw changed the 4–4–2 system after the group stages to a 4–2–3–1 system, and left Mario Gomez out of the starting lineup. Though he was forced to watch from the sidelines, his team defeated Portugal 3–2. In the quarter final Löw was banned from giving any directions to his team even through telephone calls. Later Löw declared that he had put seven different scenarios with his assistant Hansi Flick in order to contain Portugal.[2] In an exciting match against Turkey in the semi-finals, Germany won 3–2. Germany then lost 1–0 to Spain in the final on 29 June 2008.

2010 World Cup

Further progress was evident in qualifying for South Africa as Germany booked their place at the 2010 World Cup undefeated. In their penultimate match on 10 October 2009, Germany secured first place in their qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup by beating second placed Russia in Moscow 1–0, sending Guus Hiddink's side into playoffs.

In the 2010 World Cup, Löw introduced new young players and fielded the second youngest team of the tournament, Germany's youngest since 1934. Germany topped Group D and met England in the first round of the knockout stage, beating them 4–1 before defeating Argentina 4–0 in the quarterfinals. Germany then lost the semi-final to Spain 1–0.[3] On 10 July 2010, they went on to win the third place play-off against Uruguay by 3–2 to collect the bronze medals and third place at the 2010 World Cup.[4]

Euro 2012

Germany qualified for Euro 2012 atop their group with ten wins out of ten matches. During the qualification campaign Löw signed a new contract that would keep him with Germany until 2014.[5] Germany then proceeded to top their group in the tournament, the only team to win all three of their group matches as they defeated Portugal 1–0, Netherlands 2–1 and Denmark 2–1. In the quarter-finals, Germany beat Greece 4–2, but were eliminated in the semi-finals following a 2–1 loss to Italy.[6]

2014 World Cup
Löw at the 2014 FIFA World Cup

Germany started their 2014 FIFA World Cup campaign with a 4–0 victory over Portugal. In the second game against Ghana, Germany came from behind to draw the match 2–2.[7] In the third game, Germany beat the USA, led by former German coach Jürgen Klinsmann, 1–0, with the lone goal scored by Thomas Müller. In the second round match against Algeria, Löw's tactics were called into question after playing a high defensive line allowing Algeria to break through on numerous occasions. Nonetheless, Germany won 2–1 after extra time, thereby setting up a quarter-final clash with France. Germany edged France 1–0.

In a World Cup semi-final match Germany defeated Brazil 7–1 to reach the tournament's final. The result was Brazil's worst defeat in FIFA World Cup history. Löw led Germany to their fourth World Cup title win with a 1–0 victory in extra time against Argentina in the final.[8]

Euro 2016

Germany started Euro 2016 qualifying with a 2–1 win against Scotland.[9] Then Germany lost to Poland 2–0.[10] Germany had 28 shots in the match and the result put them in fourth place.[10] Germany tied the Republic of Ireland 1–1 on 14 October 2014.[11] John O'Shea scored the equalizer in the fourth minute of stoppage time.[11] Then in the following month, Germany defeated Gibraltar 4–0.[12] On 13 March 2015, Löw signed a contract extension until 2018.[13] On 29 March 2015, Germany defeated Georgia 2–0.[14] Germany remained in second place.[14] On 10 June 2015, in a friendly match, Germany lost 2–1 to the United States.[15] This was the first victory for the United States in Germany.[15]

Personal life

Löw has been married to Daniela since 1986, they have no children. The couple met in 1978 and dated for eight years before they wed.[16]

Löw lost his driver's licence twice, once in 2006 (for one month) and once in 2014 (for six months) because of his reckless behaviour behind the wheel (excessive speed and phoning).[17][18]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 29 March 2016
Team From To Record
M W D L GF GA GD Win % Ref.
Stuttgart 14 August 1996[19] 21 May 1998[19] 89 46 20 23 172 107 +65 51.69 [19][20][21][22][23]
Fenerbahçe 1 July 1998[24] 30 May 1999[24] 38 24 6 8 88 34 +54 63.16 [25]
Karlsruhe 25 October 1999[24] 17 April 2000[24] 18 1 7 10 14 28 −14 05.56 [24][26]
Adanaspor 20 December 2000[24] 2 March 2001[24] 6 0 2 4 9 14 −5 00.00 [27]
Wacker Innsbruck 10 October 2001[24] 18 June 2002[24] 25 11 5 9 30 24 +6 44.00 [28]
Austria Wien 1 July 2003[24] 24 March 2004[24] 32 16 8 8 45 24 +21 50.00 [29]
Germany 12 July 2006[24] Present 129 86 22 21 316 128 +188 66.67 [30][31][32][33][34]
[35][36][37][38]
Total 337 184 70 83 674 359 +315 54.60 —

Coaching honours

VfB Stuttgart
FC Tirol Innsbruck
FK Austria Wien
Germany

Individual

References

  1. ↑ Peter Martin (2004). Sport-Club Freiburg, ed. Hundert Jahre 90 Minuten: Die Geschichte des SC Freiburg von 1904–2004. Freiburg.
  2. ↑ Barclay, Patrick (22 June 2008). "Euro 2008: Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United posturing put into perspective". The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 22 June 2008.
  3. ↑ "Puyol heads Spain into final". ESPNsoccernet. 7 July 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  4. ↑ Ornstein, David (10 July 2010). "Uruguay 2–3 Germany". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  5. ↑ "Joachim Löw extends contract with Germany until 2014 World Cup". The Guardian (London). 15 March 2011. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "Germany beat Greece to reach Euro 2012 semifinals". The Times of India. 23 June 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  7. ↑ Smith, Ben (21 June 2014). "Germany 2 Ghana 2". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "'54, '74, '90 - 2014" (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. 14 July 2014. p. 2. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  9. ↑ "Doppelter Müller sorgt für den geglückten Start" (in German). kicker. 7 September 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  10. 1 2 Hummel, Thomas (12 October 2014). "Instinktlos im Post-WM-Blues" (in German). Warsaw: Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  11. 1 2 "90+4! O'Sheas Schocker sitzt in letzter Sekunde" (in German). kicker. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Gibraltar ist besser als Brasilien" (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  13. ↑ "Verlängerung fix! Löw bleibt bis 2018 Bundestrainer" (in German). kicker. 13 March 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  14. 1 2 Leslie, André (29 March 2015). "Germany cruise to win over Georgia in EURO 2016 qualifier". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  15. 1 2 "Wood winner lifts United States to historic victory in Germany". ESPN FC. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
  16. ↑ "World Cup's hottest coach: 10 things about Germany's star coach Joachim Loew". The Straits Times. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  17. ↑ "Löw ohne Führerschein: Mit 18 Punkten abgestiegen". spiegel.de. Der Spiegel. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  18. ↑ "Führerschein weg Löw soll 18 Punkte in Flensburg gesammelt haben". welt.de. Die Welt. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  19. 1 2 3 "VfB Stuttgart" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  20. ↑ "VfB Stuttgart » Fixtures & Results 1996/1997". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  21. ↑ "VfB Stuttgart". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  22. ↑ "Ligapokal 1997 » Halbfinale » VfB Stuttgart - Karlsruher SC 3:0" (in German). Weltfussball.de. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  23. ↑ "Ligapokal 1997 » Finale » Bayern München - VfB Stuttgart 2:0" (in German). Weltfussball.de. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Joachim Löw" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  25. ↑ "Fenerbahçe » Fixtures & Results 1998/1999". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  26. ↑ "Karlsruher SC". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  27. ↑ "Adanaspor » Fixtures & Results 2014/2015". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  28. ↑ "FC Wacker Innsbruck » Dates & results 2001/2002". World Football. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  29. ↑ "Austria Wien » Dates & results 2003/2004". World Football. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  30. ↑ "Germany » Fixtures & Results 2006". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  31. ↑ "Germany » Fixtures & Results 2007". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  32. ↑ "Germany » Fixtures & Results 2008". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  33. ↑ "Germany » Fixtures & Results 2009". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  34. ↑ "Germany » Fixtures & Results 2010" (in German). Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  35. ↑ "Germany » Fixtures & Results 2011". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  36. ↑ "Germany » Fixtures & Results 2012". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  37. ↑ "Germany » Fixtures & Results 2013". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  38. ↑ "Germany » Fixtures & Results 2014". Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  39. ↑ Though there was no third place playoff, UEFA decided in the 2012 edition to award the semi-final losers (Germany and Portugal) bronze medals for the first time. Bronze medals were previously awarded for winners of the third place playoff, the last of which was held in 1980."Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship" (PDF). 3.08: UEFA. p. 10. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  40. ↑ "Trainer des Jahres 2014: Das Ergebnis" (in German). kicker.de. 10 August 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2014.

External links

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Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Vicente del Bosque		 FIFA World Cup
Winning Coach
2014 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Jupp Heynckes		 FIFA World Coach
of the Year
2014 		Succeeded by
Luis Enrique
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