Following the 2018 World Cup, when Germany became the third-successive defending champions to be eliminated in the groups thanks to defeats to Mexico and South Korea, a decision needed to be made on the future of manager Joachim Low. The man who had guided Germany to the summit of the global game had overseen a catastrophic failure, and the overwhelming feeling was that his 12-year tenure was at its end.
However, it was instead decided that Low’s credit in the bank had earned him another shot, and he remained in charge until the delayed Euros in 2021. Germany, having shown little to no improvements in the three years since their Russian debacle, fell in the last 16 to England. Low resigned in the aftermath.
His replacement, Hansi Flick, carried Germany to the 2022 World Cup on a wave of optimism, only for them to once again fall at the first hurdle, punished for losing to Japan in their opening game despite having initially taken the lead. The expectation was that Flick would be fired, but he remained in charge until the autumn of 2023, when repeated bad results eventually caught up with him and paved the way for Nagelsmann to take over.
The ex-Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig boss oversaw a run to the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 on home soil before Germany were knocked out by eventual winners Spain, but the team has gradually gone backwards since then, and the DFB cannot make the same mistake three times by waiting too long to get rid of a failing coach.
