Reinhard Grindel, president of the German FA (DFB), is adamant Joachim Low still has the governing body's full backing and is hopeful the 56-year-old will remain in charge of the reigning world champions ahead of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Low stated after Germany's Euro 2016 semi-final defeat at the hands of France on Thursday that he needed some time to consider his options and think about whether he wants to stay on.

Grindel understands Low's desire to reflect on Germany's performances following their exit, but nonetheless hopes he will decide to honour his contract until 2018.

"After the game against France, I thanked the players, the coaching staff and the support team for an incredible performance at Euro 2016," a statement from the DFB president reads.

"We had to fight injuries before and during this tournament, but despite that we played first-class football and showed good tactical prowess. That is all down to our coach.

"Several of our colleagues from the FAs of different countries have said to me that they thought we were the best team at the tournament.

"We felt we were the better team against France. We came so close to the final and to then lose in such an unfortunate way is reason enough to have a few days of calm to analyse the match and the tournament.

"For this reason, we believe it is only fair to allow Jogi Low a few days of peace to look back on the past few weeks. It is also a question of respect and appreciation, to give him the chance to process all of the experiences and events from the very intensive past seven weeks. There is nothing to speculate about, and nothing to interpret.

"We all have to accept that our coach has asked for this calm period and we here at the DFB will obviously allow him that. We have the utmost appreciation for all the work of Jogi Low and his entire coaching team.

"I personally would be very happy, just like everyone else at the DFB, if Jogi Low were to join us on our journey to defending our title in 2018 in Russia. And I am very confident that that will happen."