Grip tests and more: how Kovac monitors BVB's stars | OneFootball

Niko Kovac has developed well at Borussia Dortmund and has definitely made his mark as head coach. The fact that he addressed the basics at the club and improved them significantly is certainly working in his favor.

The Black and Yellows’ coach has managed to get the team fit, able to run a lot, and capable of producing many intense sprints. None of that can be taken for granted.

For Kovac, fitness is the be-all and end-all. A very fit team is able to create compactness. And especially when things are not going ideally in attack, that compactness is the foundation for being able to grind out a narrow win. BVB showed that in the match against Stuttgart.

Kovac has a few secret tricks up his sleeve

A new report from BILD shows that nothing is left to chance when it comes to the players’ fitness and performance levels. Kovac places great importance on making sure the players are always pushed in exactly the way that is right for them. That is why the club also uses several internal methods to determine current fitness levels.

Photo: IMAGO

Saliva samples have now become standard at BVB. The advantages are obvious: hormones and immune markers can be analyzed with minimal effort. Among other things, this provides information about the stress hormone cortisol.

Handshake tests have been a regular routine for years. Strong grip strength is, among other things, an indicator of how fit and well-recovered a player is overall.

By far the most meaningful, however, are blood tests. Kovac has once again significantly increased the focus on them. Numerous values are measured regularly here. The aim is to identify where the players currently stand and when they may need to be taken out of intensive training for a while. In the end, all of this is meant to ensure that the team can take the decisive next step.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.