“Jogi” would have loved to have remained “Klinsi’s” assistant. But when Jürgen Klinsmann relinquished his position as head coach of the German national team less than two years after starting the job, assistant Joachim Löw agreed to take over. On Wednesday, 12 July, three days after the FIFA World Cup 2006^TM where hosts Germany placed third, a change in the team management was put into place. It surprised many observers. German Football Federation (DFB) officials hoped, on the one hand, that Klinsmann would listen to the pleas of the fans, players and the federation and continue his work at least until the UEFA European Championship 2008. On the other, the decision to install Klinsmann’s assistant as the new DFB head coach came unexpectedly for many.

Entrusted with the task of taking care of the country’s football, the dream couple from the state of Baden-Württemberg in south west Germany – Klinsmann was born in Stuttgart and Löw comes from Freiburg in the Black Forest – is now a thing of the past. The 46-year-old Löw made it clear that he intends continuing the work of the past two years. Sitting beside Klinsmann at the press conference in the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt/Main, Löw said, “Two years ago when you were sitting in this very same chair you said, ‘we want to win the World Cup.’ And now I’d like to state quite clearly, we want to win the European Championship.” Löw, who has been given a two year contract until after the European  Championship 2008 in Switzerland and Austria, explained: “I’m really looking forward to the task. It’s a big challenge.” In just five weeks from now he will take over the responsibilities as team boss for the friendly against Sweden in Gelsenkirchen (16 August). Following on are the first European Championship qualifying games against Ireland in Stuttgart and away against San Marino (2 and 6 September).

Löw’s rise from a youth team coach and player manager at a Swiss third division side within the space of 14 years was completed. In 1992 when still a player at FC Winterthur he took over the club’s youth team. In 1994 he was a player-coach for a season at third division FC Frauenfeld and began a coach’s training course in Switzerland which he did not finish. In 1995, the Swiss Rolf Fringer, the new head coach at VfB Stuttgart, offered him the position as his assistant. Löw became temporary coach after a year as Fringer left Stuttgart just four days before the start of the 1996/97 season. On 21 September 1996 VfB president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder gave him a contract as head coach.

Stuttgart finished the season in fourth place and won the German cup. In 1998 Löw led Stuttgart to the European Cup Winners’ Cup final against Chelsea but was forced to leave after the last game of the season. He was often confronted with accusations that he was too nice to stars like the Bulgarian Krassimir Balakov. Jobs in Turkey at Fenerbahce Istanbul (June 1998 to June 1999) and Adanaspor (January/February 2002), FC Tirol Innsbruck (October 2001 to June 2002) and Austria Vienna (June 2003 to March 2004) made him more uncompromising in his dealings with players. In between he also worked for Karlsruhe SC. (October 1999 to April 2000). A year ago he confessed, “I have to admit, I’ve learned a lot over the years. The nice Mr Löw is no more.”

As a player, Löw appeared in 52 Bundesliga matches for Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Karlsruhe. At SC Freiburg, he became the club’s leading goal scorer (81) in his six second division seasons up to 1989. Always solid and totally committed, never fancy or arrogant – that is how Löw was as a player and then as a coach. The southern German, who has been nicknamed “Jogi”, put the same style into practice when working with the national team. Under Klinsmann he exercised the biggest influence an assistant could ever have. His tactical and strategic theories were instrumental in developing the playing philosophy, which ultimately caused a great deal of excitement amongst the fans.

Klinsmann justified his stepping down by saying that he was totally burned out after the World Cup. He was forced to make the decision because, “I yearn for a return to normality with the family,” said the 41-year-old. “At the moment, I just don’t feel at all able to carry on the work with the same energy and with the same power.” The first thing he wants to do is to go on holiday for six months. He recommended the DFB to promote Löw to the job as “Bundestrainer” – the national team’s head coach – so that the German team can continue to perform as excitingly as they did when coming third at both the FIFA Confederations Cup 2006^TM and the FIFA World Cup 2006^TM .

The former “Bundestrainer” feels the task facing his successor is tougher now as the German team, who were not subjected to World Cup qualifying, have hard European Championship qualifying games ahead of them. Commenting on his decision to step down as head coach and therefore to ignore the huge wave of affection shown to him in the 2006 summer, Klinsmann said, “I hope, I didn’t break too many hearts.”