Germany's Loew faces first big test at Euro 2008
Loew, who had a modest career in the Bundesliga as a player, led Stuttgart to the German Cup title and then reached the final of the now-defunct Cup Winners' Cup.
That wasn't enough to save his job and he was dismissed by then-club president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder.
Mayer-Vorfelder, who later became the president of the German soccer federation, referred to his coach as "the nice Mr. Loew" and undermined his authority for months before finally letting him go.
But the former Stuttgart boss readily acknowledges how much Loew's stature has grown in the past 10 years.
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"He has changed. He is not the same man as then," Mayer-Vorfelder said. "He gained a lot of authority and staying power under Juergen Klinsmann."
When Klinsmann decided to step down after leading Germany to a third-place finish at the 2006 World Cup at home, assistant coach Loew was quickly picked as successor.
Klinsmann had no coaching experience when he took over Germany but he bulldozed through wide-ranging reforms, often against the will of the sometimes old-fashioned DFB, and unleashed a wave of euphoria before and during the World Cup.
Loew was Klinsmann's hand-picked choice for assistant and stayed in the shadow of his boss. But while Klinsmann was a great motivator, it was Loew who was credited with creating the team's tactics and leading practice.
At the World Cup, it was Loew who was giving directions on the practice field, while Klinsmann watched from the sideline.
The two worked closely together and could be seen coming out of a restaurant after sharing an Italian meal and drinking a glass of wine in the run-up to the World Cup.
Loew's appointment resumed a German tradition of the assistant inheriting the job once the head coach retires from the national team, a policy that worked well in the past. Klinsmann was one of the few exceptions, along with Franz Beckenbauer and Rudi Voeller, who came straight into the job.
Although the European Championship will be Loew's first in charge, he has the experience of working with the team at the Confederations Cup and the World Cup.
"I already carried a lot of responsibility at those two tournaments as part of the team," Loew said. "So when I took over, nothing much changed in my work.
"There are new impulses in training and in the tactical area, new ideas, my own style of communicating and of leading the team. But that started right after the World Cup so I won't have to do anything new for the European Championship."
Loew was a popular choice with the players and he has not made many changes in the squad since taking over. He has stuck with the core of players he and Klinsmann hand-picked before the World Cup and the Euro 2008 squad is not expected to produce any major surprises.
Now 48, Loew played 52 Bundesliga games for several teams, including Eintracht Frankfurt and Stuttgart. He also played in the second division.
As coach, he won the Austrian championship with FC Tirol Innsbruck in 2002 and also worked in Turkey, including a stint with Fenerbahce.
But Loew never had so much success as he's had with Germany: 15 wins in 20 games with three draws and only two defeats - an impressive record even for a perennial powerhouse.
The team has continued to play an aggressive, forward game and the national team continues to be a big hit with the fans, apart from a few bland performances late in qualifying for the European Championship. Loew's only bad defeat was a 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic in Munich.
While the emotional Klinsmann often gesticulated wildly on the sideline, the measured Loew rarely loses his cool.
With a mop of black hair, stylish shirts and different scarves he tends to wear during games, Loew could be mistaken for a rock star instead of a man coaching a team favored to win a major title.
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