Joachim Löw gets red card from driving as penalty points mount up

Germany coach Joachim Löw has been banned from driving for six months for clocking up too many points on his licence.

Löw, who will not need to drive when he arrives in Brazil for the World Cup next month, has been caught frequently speeding and using his mobile phone, according to Germany's Die Welt newspaper.

“Of course I admit that I sometimes drive too fast,” Low said in a statement released by the German Football Association (DFB). “I know I’ve got to slow myself down a bit here. I’ve learnt my lesson and will change my driving style.

“There’s nothing good to say about it, I’ve got to live with the consequences and use the train more often.”

Germany's general manager Oliver Bierhoff says there will be no consequences for Löw's indiscipline, joking that he will "talk with our sponsors Mercedes-Benz to see if they can provide him a car with a speed limiter".

“We always want to be role models, but we are only human too,” Bierhoff added.

“I don’t see there is any danger in Löw being regarded as a racer. He always drives very carefully and since he spends the whole year driving up and down the motorway from his home in Freiburg, it was bound to happen sooner or later.”

Löw may be well advised to keep a low profile on Tuesday when Mercedes' Formula One driver Nico Rosberg pays the national team a visit in their Italian training camp.