'A Whole Lotta Löw' - My Joachim Löw Fansite

Last updated 18 May 2012

Welcome to my website dedicated to Germany national football coach Joachim 'Jogi' Löw!

The German squad have now moved on to Tourettes, Southern France.
Photographs from the first two days' training are now on my new Provence Training Camp page.

The past week was spent in Sardinia on a recovery and regeneration training camp and my Sardinia page has plenty of reports and photographs from their seven days on the island.

Coming up we have two warm-up friendlies to look forward to, against Switzerland on 26 May and Israel five days later.

We are all getting excited as the Championship draws ever nearer !!
Call back for daily news and reports as the preparations progress!

With an upcoming tournament there is always new memorabilia, so see our collection of Trading Cards featuring Jogi!
We also highlight some 'musical tributes' to Jogi - borrowing from influences from the American Civil War to South Park - in our Silly Löw Songs fun feature!

Look back at Germany's unbeaten qualifying campaign and much more on my Euro 2012 Index page.

In my Match Record Index you will find a complete record and full statistics of Jogi's career as Bundestrainer.
Every competing Euro 2012 country is now featured as an opponent (with the exception of Greece who Jogi has not yet met).
You can also review Germany's successful 2011 by visiting my 2011 Index for links to every game during the year.

Full details and links to everything on this site can be found on my Site Map.

Löw: "Mit dieser Mannschaft ist vieles möglich"
A new interview with Jogi has just been uploaded to the dfb.de website. He answers questions on his job guarantee this week from Wolfgang Niersbach, the pressures present in tournaments, the regeneration camp - speaking specifically on the work that will be done with Per Mertesacker and the Bender twins, and the reduction of the squad to 23 players. Outside of football, he was asked about the arrangements for a DFB delegation to Auschwitz, and mentioned the possible visit of a Formula 1 driver in-line with the management's policy of inviting the occasional guest who has no football connections!
Löw: Euro spots must be earned
Germany coach Joachim Loew says spots in his final squad for Euro 2012 are wide open, adding that no one is guaranteed a starting place.
Löw denies his less experienced players are sure to be cut from the squad, and hinted they would come in for close scrutiny.
“Of course there are players (who know they’re being watched closely). But now I don’t need to mention any names,” he said. “As for players who have been mentioned in the public as sure cuts, everyone has a fair chance. They must convince me in the preparation with relentless work and strong will – then they will have a chance to book their ticket to the Euros. Everyone must compete for a starting place.”
Löw went on to outline his plans for the build-up to the tournament, and said his first port of call will be making sure all of his players are in sufficient shape to compete.“We will make the best of it. In the so-called ‘recovery training camp’ we’ll use players who have not played regularly recently due to injuries so they will get physically fit,” Löw said.“This primarily concerns Per Mertesacker, and also the Bender twins (Sven and Lars). Dortmund will be extra drained after the Pokal final. It will be highly individual training, but there will be two practice sessions per day. The players can be prepared for an intensive and comprehensive programme.
As for the second phase of training in France, we will work more on the football field; in phase three, in Poland, we will do our tactical fine tuning.” - 11 May 2012

Löw worried by Germany preparation
Joachim Löw has been left frustrated by the late dates of gruelling cup finals as he prepares Germany's squad for Euro 2012.
While the DFB Pokal on May 12 will leave Borussia Dortmund's players free to join up with their respective national teams, it is Bayern Munich's German internationals Löw may be concerned about, as he will only have them at his disposal after the Bavarian club's May 19 Champions League final date with Chelsea.
"Of course I'm very divided, because some of my players could join me being very disappointed," Löw told Bild.
"The disappointment goes away, I know, but it takes several days to digest it all, while fear of injuries is a natural concern. There will be hard challenges, so you can't rule out anything. But my hope is that no one arrives badly hurt.
I will also only have one-and-a-half weeks to work with my entire squad. That all said, you have to live with these uncertainties as a coach. I have no choice, I will not complain."
The original interview with Bild.de - 10 May 2012

Jogi and team manager Oliver Bierhoff are pictured left from the recent edition of German GQ magazine, where Olli is interviewed.

With thanks to Silke

Löw to remain in Germany hot seat until 2014
Germany coach Joachim Löw will remain in his post until 2014 even if his side fail to win Euro 2012, the German football federation (DFB) said Wednesday.
DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach believes the 52-year-old Löw and his general manager, Oliver Bierhoff, are doing an "excellent" job.
"We all agree that in Löw and Bierhoff we have the best pair possible," said Niersbach in an interview with Sport Bild, published on Monday."They both do excellent jobs and so we see no reason to change a winning formula.If we have to suffer disappointment, we are strong enough to stand up and face it." - 9 May 2012

Low: Spain remain favourites for Euro 2012 - 8 May 2012
"I don't think Bayern's win (over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final) will have any influence on Euro 2012. There will be different players and expectations," Löw stated to La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"Spain remain the favourites. You have to play some very good football to beat them.
We have really matured as a team and we have shown that we can play at a high level. There are more favourites, though. At least six, and two of them are in the same group as Germany with Netherlands and Portugal.
And then there's France and Italy, who went out early at the World Cup. They have bounced back again and will be ready at Euro 2012."

With thanks to Enis

Löw impressed by Germany debutants Ter Stegen and Draxler
"(Draxler) has enormous potential. We think he will develop and are convinced that he can help us, despite his young age," said Löw at a press conference.
"We calculated that Manuel Neuer would miss the majority of our preparations and we wanted to have three goalkeepers for that period. Ter Stegen has had an outstanding season and has performed well, despite being so young. The final decision on who goes will come on May 29."
Löw then spoke about the importance of having a large squad at his disposal, claiming: "Good teams have good rotation."When someone can play unchallenged in same position for 10 years without a competitor it's no good nowadays."
Arsenal's Per Mertesacker in Germany's provisional Euro 2012 squad
"We have spoken with Per and he has put in a lot of effort in getting back to fitness," said the Germany coach, Joachim Löw. "I spoke to him and his coach Arsène Wenger yesterday. We agreed that he will fly with the squad to Sardinia on Friday. Wenger said he is not ready to play yet so he has welcomed us taking him with us for training.
He has got to get back to competitive levels of fitness and we hope to get him there over the coming weeks."

Germany's Löw tackles Ukraine on human rights
Germany coach Joachim Löw on Monday joined national captain Philipp Lahm in criticising Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine over their government's treatment of jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
While Löw said a boycott of the European championships, which kicks off on June 8 in Ukraine and Poland, is "clearly not sensible", the political situation in Ukraine is of concern.
"If you ask me as a person, I have travelled a lot and I have the deepest conviction that human rights are of the highest importance," said Löw on Monday in a press conference to nominate his provisional squad for Euro 2012."I identify with the values of freedom of press, freedom of expression and the protection of the minorities, including the humanitarian handling of Yulia Tymoshenko. It doesn't matter whether this is happening in North Korea, China or Ukraine."
"A boycott of the European championships is clearly not sensible, the tournament is a good opportunity to channel things in a positive direction. If you ask me as the national trainer, we have formed a picture in Germany of what our football means: it's fun, joy and integration, helping bring people together," said Löw.
"Each player is entitled to give their opinion. We won't travel to Ukraine as the world police, we will strive to give priority to our sporting success and focus fully on the championships." - 7 May 2012

Live ticker from the press conference

The press conference in full can be watched on tv.dfb.de

With thanks to Silke and Natascha