Will the manager return for the World Cup? Rumours surrounding Jogi Löw are reportedly gaining momentum

According to the report, Löw was offered a monthly salary of 150,000 euros to take over on a short-term basis – initially only until the World Cup – from Otto Addo, who had been sacked earlier in the week.

Addo’s resignation came, of all things, just a few hours after the Black Stars’ 1-2 friendly defeat against the German national team. Prior to that, Ghana had already lost a friendly against Austria 1-5 without putting up much of a fight. Addo had held various roles with the African side’s senior national team since 2021.

In 2022, he took over as interim head coach for twelve matches and returned to that role in 2024. Under his leadership, Ghana won seven out of eight World Cup qualifiers and secured their place at the tournament on the North American continent; however, last year’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers turned into a winless disaster. It was only thanks to the World Cup qualification that Addo kept his job; he has now lost it following four consecutive friendly defeats with a goal difference of 2–10.

According to Ghanasoccernet, Winfried Schäfer is set to play a key role in persuading Löw to take on a short-term role with the Ghana Football Association. Schäfer is currently Technical Director of the Black Stars and is said to have a good relationship with Löw. Schäfer himself is also reportedly in the running for the head coach position with Ghana.

After his Bundesliga stints at Karlsruher SC and VfB Stuttgart, the 76-year-old became a globetrotter, leading Cameroon to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea and also serving as national coach for Thailand and Jamaica. His most recent coaching role to date was with Qatari second-tier side Al-Khor SC in 2021.

Should Löw indeed decide to take up the post in Ghana, he would be participating in his fourth World Cup as a coach. At the 2006 World Cup on home soil, he served as assistant coach to Jürgen Klinsmann before taking over as national coach following Klinsmann’s departure from the DFB and ushering in an extremely successful era characterised by attractive attacking football. This was crowned with victory at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

However, the historic group-stage exit in Russia in 2018 heralded the end of the Löw era. Löw announced his retirement ahead of the 2021 European Championship; the 2–0 defeat to England in the round of 16 on 29 June 2021 remains Löw’s last match as manager to this day. And although he has been out of a job for five years, he has repeatedly ruled out the end of his career and has hinted on several occasions at a return to the dugout.

In May last year, he also stated quite boldly that he wanted to go to the 2026 World Cup as manager. “I’ve always said that a World Cup is the icing on the cake. It’s the best thing a coach or player can experience,” Löw explained at the time in an interview with Sky. “I’ve been through many knockout matches, semi-finals and finals. That’s the best there is. That’s what you live for as a player or a coach.”

That is another reason why he would like to return to coaching, ideally for next summer’s finals. “Of course, I’d be delighted if I had a team that was competitive. But nothing has happened so far. So I’m waiting a little longer.”

Now a great opportunity seems to be presenting itself.

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