Joachim Löw

Date of birth: 3 February 1960
Nationality: German
Playing career: Freiburg (three times), Stuttgart, Eintracht Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Schaffhausen, Winterthur, Frauenfeld
Coaching career: Winterthur (youth), Frauenfeld, Stuttgart, Fenerbahçe, Karlsruhe, Adanaspor, Tirol Innsbruck, Austria Wien, Germany (assistant), Germany

• A native of the Black Forest in south-west Germany, Löw spent most of his playing days with local club Freiburg, where he had three spells, before winding down his career in Switzerland.

• Operated as a player-coach in Switzerland before becoming an assistant, and later head coach, back in Germany with Stuttgart. Succeeded Rolf Fringer in 1996 and led the Swabian side to a German Cup win in his first season and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final against Chelsea in his second.

• Left Stuttgart for Fenerbahçe but struggled to match his early success until he joined Tirol Innsbruck, guiding the team to the 2001/02 Austrian Bundesliga title. After nine months with Austria Wien he was summoned by old friend Jürgen Klinsmann to become his assistant with Germany. The pair steered the Nationalmannschaft to a third-place finish on home soil at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

• Replaced Klinsmann as head coach, taking the side to the UEFA EURO 2008 final and third place at the 2010 World Cup. They also reached the last four of UEFA EURO 2012, before qualifying unbeaten for the 2014 global finals. The real glory was to follow in Brazil, Löw leading the team to their fourth world title with a 1-0 final defeat of Argentina.

• Germany were unable to add the European title to their world crown, losing to hosts France in the UEFA EURO 2016 semi-finals. Löw led the team to a 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup triumph in Russia but a year later, in the same country, the holders' World Cup defence ended unexpectedly in the group stage.