If Joachim Löw had failed early with the German national soccer team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil or if he had announced his resignation after winning the title, Jupp Heynckes would probably have been his successor. FC Bayern’s triple coach was apparently the DFB’s “emergency plan”.
This was revealed by “Sport Bild” in the 31st and last part of its series “Trainer Legends – Their Last Secrets”, which deals with Löw’s career in the DFB team.
Accordingly, the then DFB association leadership around President Wolfgang Niersbach had the name Heynckes in the drawer in the event that a new national coach had to be found after the World Cup.
The year before, the 76-year-old had won the first treble in the club’s history with FC Bayern, consisting of championship, DFB Cup victory and Champions League title, but was then inherited by Pep Guardiola in Munich. So Heynckes was on the market at the time.
Joachim Löw remained national coach for the time being
The DFB had him in mind early on as a possible Löw successor in order to avoid a situation like that in 2004, when a week-long search for the new national coach broke out after Rudi Völler’s resignation as team boss.
Ultimately, however, Löw did not have to be fired after Maracana won the title and also decided against voluntarily ending his career as national coach.
Heyncke’s personnel did not have to be specified at the DFB.
Jupp Heynckes hired again at Bayern
Instead, the former top striker remained without a job and only hired for the fourth time as head coach at FC Bayern in autumn 2017. There Heynckes inherited the dismissed Carlo Ancelotti and still led the team to the German championship. In 2018 he finally resigned as a coach.
For Jogi Löw, the national team chapter only ended after the disappointing EM finals in 2021. He had already announced his retirement a few months before the tournament. Hansi Flick took over as national coach.