Niko Kovac has big plans for VfL Wolfsburg. With “dominant” football, the new coach wants to lead the Lower Saxony Bundesliga team back into international business after the disappointing previous season.
“We want to attack, play along and be successful in order to be able to play internationally again,” said the 50-year-old on Monday at his official presentation. “I’m very motivated to achieve something with VfL.” In terms of infrastructure, the club is one of the top 5 in the Bundesliga and has great ambitions. This is to be fulfilled with an “intensive style of play”.
“Twelfth place didn’t make anyone happy here. Champions League and Europa League – that’s what people want here and what we want.”
— Niko Kovac
VfL “underperformed” last season, according to Kovac, who has a contract until 2025. “We from our side, from the club side and from the coaching side, want to win titles,” he emphasized. That is “not easy with any team. But the best thing.” For example, he was twice in the cup final with Eintracht Frankfurt and won the cup once – “no one expected that either”. It is crucial that you do everything for it, work for it and, above all, believe in it: “And we at the club believe in it.”
Schmadtke expects more fitness
Kovac wants to exemplify the VfL motto “work, football, passion” and see it implemented by his team. The team should be a unit again. As with his previous stations in Frankfurt, Munich or Monaco, the Croatian relies on fitness.
“My teams have always been fit.”
— Niko Kovac
In the pre-season, VfL had the worst mileage of all first division clubs at 3,779.42 kilometers. Much to the displeasure of manager Jörg Schmadtke, who therefore formulated a clear order for Kovac in the “Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung”: “If the running component and the game idea fit together, you will quickly see a different VfL.”
Search for a Schlager successor
The previous newcomers Patrick Wimmer, Kilian Fischer and Jakub Kaminski were absent from the performance tests on Monday because they were recently in action with national teams and therefore have longer holidays.
Further transfer activities are planned, but conclusions before the start of training on Wednesday are unlikely, according to Schmadtke. A central defender and a new midfielder have priority for Xaver Schlager, who has been sold to Leipzig. The defensive players David Carmo (SC Braga) and Mattia Viti (FC Empoli) as well as midfielder Florian Grillitsch from TSG Hoffenheim are under discussion.
Training camp in Austria
The first test matches are coming up for VfL in two weeks: As part of a preparatory tournament on July 2nd, they will face third division club VfL Osnabrück and second division club Hannover 96.
The “Wolves” are traveling to Seefeld, Austria, for the training camp (July 8th to 17th), and another friendly is scheduled for July 23rd against English Premier League club FC Brentford. The first competitive game for Kovac and his team is on July 30 (6 p.m.) with the first round game in the DFB Cup at FC Carl Zeiss Jena.
Schäfer: “We-feeling back to the fore”
VfL sporting director Marcel Schäfer made the players responsible for the coming season. “We have to bring the sense of togetherness back to the fore. I’m clearly speaking to the team,” said the ex-professional. In the end, personal goals took precedence over the community. “We were shipwrecked there,” says Schäfer.
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Sports current | 06/20/2022 | 4:17 p.m
