[3] Of all head coaches of the Germany national football team, Löw has managed and won the most matches (189/120).

[5] In 1980, Löw joined VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga, but he had difficulties establishing himself in the starting lineup and played only four matches.

In the 1981–82 season, Löw played for Eintracht Frankfurt (24 matches, five goals), but he returned to Freiburg the following year.

As Fringer had the opportunity to become coach of the Switzerland national team, Löw was promoted caretaker manager on 14 August 1996.

[11] During the season, in the DFB-Pokal, Stuttgart reached the competition's semi-finals,[12] defeating reserve teams of Borussia Mönchengladbach, Hertha BSC, SSV Ulm 1846 and KFC Uerdingen 05 en route.

[28] When Jürgen Klinsmann succeeded Rudi Völler as the head coach of the Germany national team following a disappointing UEFA Euro 2004, he brought Löw into the German setup as assistant manager.

Klinsmann and Löw had met years earlier at a coaching school and both shared a philosophy focused on attacking football.

Germany lost 3–2 to Brazil in the semi-final of the 2005 Confederations Cup, but subsequently defeated Mexico 4–3 in the third place encounter.

Klinsmann and Löw's new attacking philosophy saw Germany score the most goals (15 in 5 matches) of any team in the tournament.

In the semi-final match with Italy, however, the hosts conceded two goals in the final two minutes of extra time.

Germany, however, turned in a dominant performance against Portugal in the third place match, winning 3–1 with two Bastian Schweinsteiger goals.

Besides a focus on attacking football and youth development, Klinsmann's staff also introduced an alternative B-team: Team 2006, to experiment with new aspiring players suitable to play at the home World Cup.

Löw obtained a contract for two years and announced that he wanted to continue in the philosophy developed with Klinsmann to play with an offensive style.

[30] Löw had a successful start in qualifying for Euro 2008 with wins over the Republic of Ireland[31] and San Marino.

The team extended this record to five wins in the next match, the Euro 2008 qualifier against Slovakia in Bratislava on 11 October, with a 4–1 victory.

[36] Löw's first loss as manager came in his eighth game on 28 March 2007, an experimental squad lost 0–1 against Denmark.

[37] When qualification for Euro 2008 was ensured, Löw's record stood at 11 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw from 13 matches and a 41:6 goal difference.

Nonetheless, Germany won the match 1–0 with a goal from Michael Ballack to progress to the quarter-finals[46] as runners up because of their earlier loss to Croatia.

Later Löw declared that he had put seven different scenarios with his assistant Hansi Flick in order to contain Portugal.

[51] Further progress was evident in qualifying for South Africa as Germany booked their place at the 2010 World Cup undefeated.

Germany topped Group D and met England in the first round of the knockout stage, beating them 4–1 before defeating Argentina 4–0 in the quarter-finals.

Löw led Germany to their fourth World Cup title win with a Mario Götze goal in the 112th minute to get Die Mannschaft the victory in extra time against Argentina in the final.

[86] Finishing level on seven points with Poland but with a superior goal differential, Germany qualified for the round of 16 as Group C winners.

[91] Germany started their 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup mission with a 3–2 victory over Australia in their first group stage match.

[97] On 2 July 2017, Löw led Germany to their FIFA Confederations Cup title win for the first time after a 1–0 victory against Chile in the final at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg.

[99] Germany were drawn into Group C alongside the Czech Republic, Northern Ireland, Norway, Azerbaijan and San Marino for 2018 World Cup qualifying.

[102][103] Löw played a 4–2–3–1 formation but allowed right-back Joshua Kimmich to attack that flank, giving Mexico space on that side.

Moreover, playing two defensive midfielders but having them to push forward in attack left the German backline vulnerable to the Mexican counter.

[105] Germany were eliminated in the first round of the World Cup for the first time since 1938, and encountered its first ever group stage exit after losing 2–0 to South Korea.

Löw decided to stay on as national team coach[108][109] despite the group stage exit from the World Cup.