Euro 2020: Joachim Low leaves behind a rich legacy with Germany

Time and patience are in short supply for football managers and coaches these days. Rarely do teams do long-term projects anymore. So, if you hear a conversation about a top manager who held his job for over a decade, revolutionised his team in his early years, became so influential that it was awkward to ask him to step down, and eventually overstayed until his methods became stale, it can be one of two men: Arsene Wenger with Arsenal or Joachim Low with the German national team.

To be fair to Wenger, the decline was not as sharp a fall as Germany’s since the 2018 World Cup. Arsenal was just a middling side for too long and a fresh face was desperately needed to make them ambitious once again. But ever since his departure, the team has gone from bad to worse. That is a situation the German football body will hope to avoid as Low bows out after 15 years at the helm and Bayern Munich head coach Hansi Flick replaces him.

Over the last two weeks, we saw a German team whose inconsistencies cost them dearly. Unlike Low’s early years, the team looked hurried and unsettled, with short bursts of energy, failing to maintain that over 90 minutes or to really take charge of the game. This was evident even in their 4-2 drubbing of Portugal, their only win in their four games at the Euro 2020.

The only bright spots in the team were the (relatively) young Robin Gosens, Joshua Kimmich and Kai Havertz, whose skills shone through in all four games. And that is what Low has always excelled at—getting the best out of young talent. But pushing youngsters to excel is only one of the many ways Low changed German football.

Low arrived on the international scene in 2004 on the back of an unimpressive career as a club football coach. Jurgen Klinsmann, the legendary German striker, was made head coach of the national team and had roped in Low as his assistant. Klinsmann had earlier met Low at a coaching course they were at, and instantly took a liking to this relatively unknown figure who had impressive ideas.

When Klinsmann took over, the football system in the country was not producing quality players that could take on the best teams in the world, and the national team had just come off a poor performance at the 2004 Euro Cup. The revolution of German football that began in 2004, titled das reboot, may have been initiated under Klinsmann, but it was said that the real brains behind the project was Low. This eventually got him the top job when Klinsmann voluntarily stepped down in 2006 after taking Germany to the semifinals of the World Cup at home.

What Low achieved best was the silky smooth side that he crafted out of a team that had a reputation for being brutes on the field. He added creativity and flair to the team that had never been witnessed before in German football.

At the 2008 Euros and the 2010 World Cup, the world saw a crop of young Germans flourishing under Low, and had it not been for the Spanish golden era, perhaps Germany would have easily won both events. But it was at the 2012 Euro Cup that Germany really choked and Low came under criticism for the first time. It seemed like the perfect time for his players to hit their peak, but they failed at the semifinals once again.

Then came Low’s next impressive move. By 2014, he had a reputation of being loyal to a band of players, namely Mesut Ozil, Thomas Muller, Philip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski, among others. Although he was later criticised even for that, he took these players and made an efficient possession-based team that played attractive football. To him, it was not just about German efficiency and winning at all costs. Football needed to be beautiful, and this change in approach paid off.

By this time, Low had already played a role in shaking up the system. The 7-1 defeat of Brazil at the World Cup—arguably football’s defining game of the decade—solidified everything that he introduced: The possessive yet attacking brand of football, the faith in youth, and most importantly the new and improved coaching education in the country. Clubs and countries from different corners of the world were lining up to hire German coaches.

Another big change that Low brought to the team was the diversity of the players. Ahead of Low’s appointment, the German government brought about a reform of dual citizenship laws that allowed more people of non-German heritage to get German passports. This soon reflected in Low’s team as he inducted players from Turkey, Albania, Tunisia, Ghana and so on. This later won him the Bambi Integration Prize in 2016.

It was at the 2016 Euro Cup that the signs of decline started to show. By then, he had been at the job for 10 years and his methods and tactics were starting to get predictable. Germany finished fourth at the Euros, but by winning the Confederations Cup, they once again seemed like favourites to go the distance in 2018. But the old guard was starting to slow down and the new crop of players did not look ready to take on the challenge.

That humiliating group stage exit should have indicated that it was time to move on from Low. The team sunk lower after it was relegated from the Nations League group and lost to Spain 0-6, the country’s second-worst defeat in its history. It showed that when the resources dried up, Low was left without a plan.

Months ahead of the 2020 Euro Cup, it was decided that Low would be relieved of his duties after the tournament, to be replaced by his one-time assistant Hansi Flick. The Euro Cup was supposed to be his last chance to spark a turnaround for the team, but with a loss to long-time rival England, Low’s team came up short again.

It is a sad end to his reign, but that will not be his legacy. For all that he achieved with the national team, and the change in culture he brought to German football as a whole, he goes down as one of the world’s most influential national team managers of all time. He will only be hoping that Flick can revive the team with fresh ideas like Low did when he first took over.