Loew hit with driving ban

The 54-year-old must hand over his licence after accruing too many points for speeding and talking on his phone while at the wheel.

"Of course, I stand by the fact that sometimes, unfortunately, I drive too fast. I know that I need to be reined in," said Loew in a German Football Association (DFB) statement.

"I have learnt my lesson and will change my driving behaviour.

"There's no getting round it, I have to live with the consequences and I often use the train now."

Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff could not resist poking fun at Loew's expense with car manufacturers Mercedes Benz being one of the team's main sponsors.

"We will talk to our main sponsors and make sure that Jogi only gets cars from now on which have a regulated top speed," said Bierhoff tongue-in-cheek at the Germans' pre-World Cup training camp in north Italy.

This is not the first time Loew has lost his licence and he was banned for four weeks in 2006 having been clocked driving 134km/h in a 100km/h section of the motorway in Cologne.

"Joachim Loew had already told us that he would have to hand over his licence," said DFB general secretary Helmut Sandrock.

"We know that Jogi is annoyed at himself about this."

Germany jet to Brazil on June 7 and open their World Cup campaign on June 16 against Portugal in Salvador in Group G.