As the new coach at Borussia Dortmund, Niko Kovac has announced that his program will consist of hard work because he too was a hard worker. Which leadership he will work with in the future remains open.
Mission. Will. Physise. Passion. Readiness.
If the Borussia ball game club from 1909 in Dortmund would have to stick election posters for his new trainer, these keywords would be read – and always work, also hard work. “Success generates at work”said Kovac when he was introduced as the new BVB coach on Tuesday (04.02.2025).
The keywords did not count, but it was Lars Ricken, Managing Director Sport. The new trainer liked to hear them very much, and he also emphasized that they describe his immediate program well. “I am a hard worker. Wherever I come from, everything didn’t work on its own.”
Solution from the Wedding
Niko Kovac comes from Berlin, from the Wedding. The district stands for elbows, the law of the street, for hardness, for will. “I think I am doing well here.”
Maloche is further appreciated in the Ruhr area, but many fans met the new coach in forums and social media with skepticism. The big solution is not Kovac, they complained.
Lars Ricken: “Niko Kovac stands for success”
You can hardly expect innovative methods and in-game coaching that fits the Guardiola category. Niko Kovac did not promote anything in this direction on Tuesday. His simple program is that hard work leads to success, and if he ultimately leads Borussia Dortmund from currently eleventh place to at least the fourth and thus back into the Champions League, the doubters will at least be satisfied.
“Niko Kovac stands for success”, said Ricken and listed the DFB Cup victory with Eintracht Frankfurt and the double from the championship and trophy with FC Bayern Munich. The introductory round took about 50 minutes, in which sports director Sebastian Kehl also took part in addition to Ricken and Kovac.
The new trainer doesn’t care why the BVB played so weakly
Several times, the name of interim coach Mike Tullberg fell on the podium, who scored four points from two Bundesliga games with BVB and a victory in the Champions League against Schachtar Donetsk.
Nuri Sahin, however, was not mentioned, who had to go because the first four games in the new calendar year had been lost and the half year before was bad. He had “Seen a team who has not called everything they can” “said Kovac. Why don’t care now. He only looks into the future.
Even a smile
The task, according to the 53-year-old Croatian, which begins with an important home game against VfB Stuttgart (Saturday, 08.02.2025, from 3:20 p.m. in the radio report at Sportschau), is just right. After a good ten months without a job, he was “well recovered” and ready. In the two training sessions so far, the team also made a willing impression that he even observed a smile from time to time.
There have been many in recent years
It took an “external input”, said Ricken, who alluded to the stable smell, surrounded the Sahin, who also surrounds him, just like sports director Kehl and the technical director Sven Mislintat, about whom last week was read, that he is about to leave.
Alternative answers to the future of the management
As things go on in the management, Ricken was asked, and he evaded the question by saying that BVB employees were “badly discredited that did not correspond to the truth”. When asked whether something would change, Ricken said that this would be discussed internally and not during a press conference.
So there is speculation in the room whether Sven Mislintat, or Sebastian Kehl, or both. After the transfer window was closed, it was heard that a balance would be drawn.
Busy end, but the most important transfer did not work
The BVB was still very busy in the past few days, committed to Daniel Svensson a Swedish left -back who had previously played in Denmark, borrowed with Carney Chukwuemeka from FC Chelsea a midfielder who does not use it this season for this season Premier League Came, and got a goalkeeper with Diant Ramaj, whom he immediately lost to FC Copenhagen.
The player, who probably had the most quality and the fastest effect, did not come. Rayan Cherki has to Olympique Lyon remain. Or otherwise: Niko Kovac has to work hard without him.