Berlin, March 14 (IANS): The German football association (DFB) extended the contract of Joachim Loew as coach of the men's national team till 2018.

"I want to thank the entire DFB board and the league led by president Wolfgang Niersbach and general secretary Helmut Sandrock for the confidence, support and the offer to renew our contracts ahead of schedule. Our young team is not at the end of its development," Loew said, reports Xinhua.

Loew joined Germany's 'Nationalelf' as Juergen Klinsmann's assistant, to take the helm after the latter resigned in 2006. Since then, Loew reaped 80 victories, 21 draws and 17 defeats in 118 games to become the most successful Germany coach in history.

He led Germany in the last four tournaments to at least the semifinals. However, he rounded off his career by lifting the World Cup in Brazil by beating Argentina 1-0 in the final.

Besides Loew, assistant coach Thomas Schneider and goalkeeping coach Andreas Koepke signed new contracts till 2018. Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff signed a new deal until 2020 as he will be in-charge of the set up and commissioning of the DFB academy.

"I am delighted that Joachim Loew will remain our coach until the 2018 World Cup. The DFB benefits a lot from Loew's expertise, determination and appearance. Our common goal is to stay atop the world rankings," DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach said.