World Cup 2018: Joachim Loew extends Germany contract until 2022 before leaving out Mario Goetze

Loew has been in charge for 160 matches, winning 106, more than any other Germany coach

Joachim Löw has extended his deal with Germany (Getty )

Germany coach Joachim Loew has agreed to extend his contract with the world champions to 2022, he said on Tuesday before the unveiling of his preliminary World Cup squad.

Loew, whose current deal runs out in 2020, has been in charge for 12 years and in 2014 led Germany to their fourth World Cup title.

"This is a big responsibility to continue developing players," the 58-year-old told reporters after German Football Association President Reinhard Grindel said they had agreed to extend their current deal by two more years.

"To work with the best players in Germany, then develop them and to make them better, to form a team that sets the highest goals, this is what drives and still gives me joy."

Loew has been in charge for 160 matches, winning 106, more than any other Germany coach.

He started out as assistant to Juergen Klinsmann after only limited coaching experience in club football.

Loew took over after the 2006 World Cup in Germany and has led his country to at least the semi-finals in all of the five major tournaments for which he has been at the helm.

"We did not need long to get a conclusion," Grindel said. "We will extend the contract of Joachim Loew and the entire training team until 2022."

Germany's first-choice goalkeeper Manuel Neuer was included in their preliminary World Cup squad on Tuesday despite having been out of action since September but World Cup final scorer Mario Goetze was left out.

The 32-year-old Neuer suffered a broken bone in his foot and only returned to training days ago but Loew decided to take four keepers to the training camp in the Italian Alps from May 23-June 5.

Manuel Neuer has only played four games this season (Getty ) (Getty)

"We will see how it goes from day-to-day," Germany coach Joachim Loew told reporters. "What is clear is that without match practice to go into a World Cup is not possible."

"He knows that. We will see at the end of the month or early June how things look and then we will have an honest discussion."

Loew left out midfielder Goetze, who scored the winning goal in the final against Argentina four years ago but has had a lacklustre season.

"We saw that it was not his season, not the normal form with his quality," Loew told reporters. "I think he has immense quality and he has proved this but he was not in that form."

Mario Goetze has been left out after a difficult season (Getty ) (Getty)

Fellow Borussia Dortmund player Marco Reus' hopes of making his first World Cup got a boost after he made the cut.

Reus, who missed half of this season through injury, was ruled out of the 2014 World Cup after being injured in Germany's last warm-up match. He also missed Euro 2016 through injury.

"Marco is a special weapon, he has special gifts," Loew said of the forward. "He has great intelligence in the game and in the second half of the season he was in really good form. I expect quite a bit from him for the tournament."

Loew also opted to stick with the experienced Mario Gomez as his second-choice striker behind Timo Werner and picked Freiburg's Nils Petersen ahead of Sandro Wagner.

Timo Werner makes the cut (Getty ) (Getty)

The 30-year-old Wagner has scored four goals in his eight internationals and was part of last year's Confederations Cup-winning team.

Germany will face Mexico, Sweden and South Korea in Group F at next month's World Cup in Russia.