© EuroFootball.com
The coach of the German national team, Jürgen Klinsmann, after two successful years with the team, decided not to extend his contract which ended on Sunday and to step down from his position. He will be replaced by Joachim Löw, who has signed a two-year contract and has been working as an assistant coach until now.
"We must accept this decision," said Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, the president of the German Football Federation (DFB).
At a press conference in Frankfurt on Wednesday, it was announced that 41-year-old J. Klinsmann is stepping down and will be replaced by Joachim Löw, who was the right-hand man of the head coach until now.
J. Klinsmann, who lives in California, was heavily criticized for his decision to live in the USA, as well as for publicly falling out with Borussia Dortmund defender Christian Worns, and after poor performances in friendly matches, there were even suggestions for him to resign.
However, all of this was forgotten after the team's excellent performance at the World Cup - Germany, who no one expected to play beautiful football, finished in 3rd place and won the bronze medals. In a survey conducted, all 23 players of the team and 93% of the public, as well as many of those who had criticized him earlier, said they wanted him to continue coaching Germany.
After the failure in the semi-finals against Italy, the coach said that whether he will continue to lead the team in the 2008 European qualification cycle, he will discuss with his wife, but ultimately the strategist decided to step down.
Indeed, J. Klinsmann denied rumors that he had received a lucrative offer to become the coach of the U.S. national team and stated that he had no desire to coach another national team.
Before the qualifying cycle, the German national team will play a friendly match against the Swedish team on August 16, and this will be the first test for the new coach J. Löw.
