Failed in Munich: Kovac looks back on his time at Bayern | OneFootball

Niko Kovac won the double as FC Bayern coach, but is considered a failure after his abrupt dismissal. The current BVB coach looks back.

Niko Kovac has been head coach at Borussia Dortmund since February and has led the club back to the Champions League after a difficult phase. The 54-year-old can now look back on 16 years as a coach – a career that also took him to FC Bayern. His time in Munich was marked by successes, but also by stress and an abrupt end.

Kovac collected his greatest titles at FC Bayern: in the 2018/2019 season, he won the Bundesliga and DFB Cup double. Nevertheless, his tenure ended in November 2019 after an unsuccessful start to the new season.

In an interview with kicker, Kovac explained how much his time at the record champions had shaped him. His statements remain unchanged: „You take something with you wherever you work. Then you take stock: what did you do right and what did you do wrong? And then you try to improve. That was no different after my time in Munich than it was later in Monaco or Wolfsburg – or right at the start with the Croatian national team or in Frankfurt.“

Kovac with BVB behind Bayern

The former Bayern professional, who wore the FCB jersey himself from 2001 to 2003, described his time as a coach in Munich as intense and instructive. The pressure and expectations were enormous. At the same time, he had to moderate a squad restructuring in the midst of the pressure to succeed.

photo: IMAGO/Maximilian Koch

Kovac said: „Of course, the expectations in Munich are very high. We had to make a change to the squad at the time – and still be successful. It was a difficult but also very instructive time for me. And at the end of the day, it was also successful with the double victory.“

Kovac has now formed a stable team at BVB. After ten match days, Dortmund are in third place – behind FC Bayern, who are already seven points clear, and in competition with Leipzig, Stuttgart and Leverkusen.