Joachim Löw was born on February 3, 1960, in Schönau, West Germany. He is a football coach and former professional footballer. After completing his schooling, Löw trained as a wholesaler, providing him with an alternative career path should football not work out.
Löw began his professional playing career with SC Freiburg in 1978 as a striker. He scored 81 goals in 252 matches—a record that still stands for the club. He also had spells with VfB Stuttgart (1980–81), Eintracht Frankfurt (1981–82), and Karlsruher SC (1984–85), recording 7 goals in 52 appearances. He later played for several smaller clubs before retiring as a player in 1995.
In the 1994–95 season, Löw served as a player-coach at FC Frauenfeld in Switzerland. The following year, he became an assistant coach to Rolf Fringer at VfB Stuttgart. When Fringer left to manage the Swiss national team in 1996, Löw was promoted to head coach.
Under his leadership, Stuttgart finished fourth in the Bundesliga in both the 1996–97 and 1997–98 seasons. The team reached the semi-finals of the DFB-Ligapokal and also advanced to the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, where they lost 1-0 to Chelsea. During this campaign, they had victories over teams including ÍBV Vestmannaeyjar, Beerschot, Slavia Prague, and Lokomotiv Moscow.
In 1998–99, Löw managed Fenerbahçe in Turkey, guiding the club to a third-place finish in the Süper Lig, although they were eliminated in the first round of the UEFA Cup. The following season, he returned to Germany to manage Karlsruher SC. However, the team struggled and he was dismissed after a string of poor results, registering only one win in 18 matches.
Löw returned to Turkey in December 2000 to manage Adanaspor, but the team failed to secure a victory during his tenure and remained in the relegation zone when his spell ended.
In 2001–02, Löw was appointed manager of Austrian club Tirol Innsbruck. He led them to a Bundesliga title with a record of 11 wins, 5 draws, and 9 losses. However, the club declared bankruptcy shortly after, leaving him without a role. In the 2003–04 season, he took charge of Austria Wien. The team lost the Austrian Supercup to FC Kärnten and was eliminated in the first round of the UEFA Cup by Borussia Dortmund. Löw left the club in March 2004 while they were in first place in the league.
In 2004, Löw joined the German national team as assistant coach to Jürgen Klinsmann. The duo shared a modern footballing philosophy that emphasized attacking play, contrasting with Germany’s traditionally defensive style.
Germany reached the semi-finals in both the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2006 FIFA World Cup. At the Confederations Cup, the team scored the most goals in the tournament but lost 3-2 to Brazil in the semi-finals. In the 2006 World Cup, Germany won all their group matches—4-2 vs Costa Rica, 1-0 vs Poland, and 3-0 vs Ecuador. They defeated Sweden 2-0 in the Round of 16 and overcame Argentina in a penalty shootout in the quarter-finals. However, they lost 2-0 to Italy in the semi-finals after extra time, before defeating Portugal 3-1 in the third-place match.
| Birth Date: | 3 Feb, 1960 |
| Age: | 60 yrs |
| Occupations: | Association football player Association football manager |
| Citizenship: | Germany |
| Birth Place: | Schönau im Schwarzwald |
| Gender: | Male |
| Description: | German association football manager and former player |
| Net Worth 2021: | 22 million |
