London, July 2 : German coach Joachim Low has the backing of a crack team of number-crunchers in Cologne.

The German Football Federation (DfB) employ 62 top under-graduates to study every detail of the national team''s rivals and they report to chief scout Urs Siegenthaler, reports The Sun.

He sifts through a huge volume of information, dubbed "the encyclopedia", - before briefing the team.

Compare that to the two VT operators England''s six million-pound-a-year boss Capello uses for his preparation, and it is clear, that there is a gulf in class on the pitch.

Germany confessed they changed their tactics against England thanks to the information Siegenthaler gave them.

Skipper Philip Lahm revealed: "It was visible we changed our tactics a bit against England and were optimally prepared, that''s why we won. We knew what to expect."

A DfB official said: "Our team of students is based in the German University of Sport in Cologne.

"The DfB has a small part of it where coaches get their qualifications on a year''s course. Christian Ziege and Markus Babbel have just done theirs. There are students studying degrees to become sports administrators or club executives and we use them to study teams. Because of our connections with broadcasters, we get footage of all the games so we know everything about individual players and their teams,” he added.

The revelations will heap more pressure on FA bigwigs who are deciding whether or not to keep Capello.

It also brings Capello''s methods into question as, despite his huge salary, he appeared under-prepared throughout England''s catastrophic campaign. (ANI)