Joachim Löw at a Glance

Joachim “Jogi” Löw was born on February 3, 1960 in Schönau, West Germany. His playing career spans from 1978 to 1995 with teams including SC Freiburg, VfB Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt, Karlsruher SC, and FC Schaffausen. As an attacking midfielder, his career can be categorized as only mediocre.

His management career started as a youth coach while still playing professionally. He became a full-time coach in 1996 with VfB Stuttgart, then Fenerbahçe, Karlsruher SC, Adanaspor, FC Tirol Innsbruck, and Austria Wien. Löw took Stuttgard to win the DFB-Pokal in 1997 and to the European Cup Winner’s Cup finals the following year.

Löw started as an assistant coach with Germany under Jürgen Klinsmann in 2004. Together they took Germany to third place in the 2005 Confederations Cup and in the 2006 World Cup.

When Klinsmann resigned after not long after, Löw stepped in as the new head coach. Löw took Germany to the 2008 Euro Championship finals but loss 1-0 to Spain. Germany has been impressive so far in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, and poses as a serious contender to the trophy.