At the 2018 World Cup
Löw on Erdoğan scandal: “İlkay shed tears”
October 13, 2025 – 4:38 p.mReading time: 3 minutes
A photo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan caused a scandal before the 2018 World Cup. Now ex-national coach Joachim Löw speaks out about the internals.
Former national coach Joachim Löw has commented in more detail on the circumstances surrounding the German national team’s elimination in the preliminary round at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The 65-year-old also referred to the scandal surrounding the joint photo of national players Mesut Özil and İlkay Gündoğan with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which caused a scandal in preparation for the tournament.
“That caused an incredible amount of discussion in our country,” said Löw about the situation in the “one-two” at Sport1. “For the two or three weeks in the training camp there was actually only one topic. So we just lost too much energy, too much concentration and then we went to the World Cup and everything was somehow gone,” the former national coach continued.
The controversy over the photo also led to a split within the team. “It was the first time in my entire time over the many years that the team was no longer so united,” said Löw. “Otherwise we always had incredibly good energy, in the tournaments. Before the tournaments anyway. That was the first time that the team was a bit divided.”
Specifically, the question was whether Özil and Gündoğan should even go to the World Cup. “Because this topic was so overwhelming, it really bothered us.”
Looking back, Löw thinks it is at least possible that it would have been better to leave the players at home. “It might have been better. I said at the time: Especially now, when the players are under so much fire, we have to protect them. But: Both players, neither Mesut nor İlkay, were not able to perform well,” he explained and even gave details: “İlkay sat in the dressing room and shed tears and Mesut was of course correspondingly demoralized because of all the The hostility that existed at the time put a lot of strain on the players.”
But Löw also admitted other mistakes. “Of course, we were bad in many areas and we were rightly eliminated,” he said openly. He made tactical mistakes himself, especially in the opening game. “I demanded total offense from the team, total high full-backs. I thought we were now in a position to exert pressure at that point.”