Niko Kovač: The New BVB Manager With A Lot To Live Up To

The search for a Borussia Dortmund manager who can live up to the expectations of the supporters isn’t an easy one. The club won three top-flight titles in the 1950s and 1960s, then won another three between 1995 and 2002 before all but dropping off the radar of German football.

The arrival of Jürgen Klopp as manager instilled belief, winning successive titles as well as taking them to the Champions League final, but no one has since been able to live up to that and the manager’s job seems to be constantly up for grabs.

The current incumbent is Niko Kovač, but who is he and why did Dortmund appoint him?

The Reason Kovač Got the Job

In the wake of Jürgen Klopp’s departure from the Borussia Dortmund hot-seat, the club has struggled to maintain any sort of consistency with the men who have been brought in to replace him. When he left at the end of the 2014-2015 season, having won two Bundesliga titles as well as the DFB-Pokal and a pair of DFL Supercups in addition to making the Champions League final, he was replaced by Thomas Tuchel. They finished second in the Bundesliga under him, lost in the DFB-Pokal final and made the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Init mad how Jurgen Klopp left Borussia Dortmund to allow Thomas Tuchel to take over so that he would increase the development rate of Christian Pulisic to the correct amount that he would eventually impress Chelsea enough to be signed and hence, win is the league v City.

— niran (@TheOfficialFNG) June 25, 2020

Tuchel enjoyed a touch more success the following year, exiting the Champions League at the quarter-final stage and coming third in the Bundesliga, but winning the DFB-Pokal and losing in the final of the DFL-Supercup. He left in the summer to take over at Chelsea, with Peter Bosz taking over.

He failed to make an impression, being sacked in the December and replaced by Peter Stöger, who stabilised the club and got them into the Champions League for the following season before departing in the summer to be replaced by Lucien Favre.

Favre managed to get Dortmund back into the run of things in the league, finishing second just two points behind Bayern Munich, but exited both the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League at the Round of 16 stage. He remained in charge for the following season, winning the DFL-Supercup and exited both the DFB-Pokal and the Champions League at the Round of 16 stage again, also coming second in the Bundesliga but significantly further adrift from Bayern. He began the following season as manager, but was sacked in the December after poor results.

Becoming quietly fascinated with the demise of Borussia Dortmund. It goes back so much further than Sahin, Terzic, Rose… I’m reading a book now on their life under Klopp and they were just light years away as a footballing entity from the mess they are now

— Euro Expert (@alexanderbarker.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 11:22 PM

Edin Terzić came in as the club’s interim manager, getting them to third in the Bundesliga and winning the DFB-Pokal, as well as taking them to the quarter-finals of the Championship league and losing in the final of the DFL-Supercup. Marco Rose then took over for the 2021-2022 season, being knocked out of all cups but finishing just eight points being Bayern in the league. Terzić was brought back for the following season, again exiting all cups early but only missing out on the title by goal difference on the final day.

@amazingfootball_0 Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund • U.C.L 2023/24 Final • Resumen & Goles #fyp #viralvideos #futbol⚽️ #realmadridfc #footballtiktok #futboltiktok #borussiadortmund #UCLFinal ♬ sonido original – AmazingFut

Although Terzić took the club to a fifth-place finish in the Bundesliga, he did get them to the Champions League final for the first time in a decade, losing out to Real Madrid. In the summer, Dortmund appointed Nuri Şahin as manager, but he only lasted until towards the end of January before he was sacked after numerous poor results. With manager after manager failing to enjoy the success that Jürgen Klopp had at the Westfalenstadion, Der BVB decided that they needed to do something else, which is why Kovač ended up with the job.

Who is Niko Kovač?

Born on the 15th of October 1971 in West Berlin, West Germany, Niko Kovač went on to represent Croatia on the international stage and was a long-standing captain for the side. A defensive midfielder who was known as being a tough tackler and intelligent passer, he had spent most of his playing career in the Bundesliga with sides such as Hertha BSC, Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburger SV and Bayern Munich. He was playing for Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg when he decided to hang up his boots, taking on the role of reserve team coach.

Happy 48th birthday to Niko Kovač who was an incredible Croatia captain and currently proving to be a great coach pic.twitter.com/5zb9Wdtoim

— Ante🥉🥈🥉 (@AnthonyZoric) October 15, 2019

He was then made the assistant manager under Salzburg’s boss Ricardo Moniz, learning the ropes of the managerial role. He took over as manager of the Croatian national side’s Under-21 team in the January of 2013, becoming the senior team’s manager nine months later. Managing them at the World Cup in 2014, he was later appointed as Eintracht Frankfurt’s manager in 2016 and won the DFB-Pokal with them two years later, defeating Bayern Munich. It was enough to convince Bayern that they should appoint him as manager when Jupp Heynckes departed.

Ironically, his first game as Bayern head coach came against his former club Eintracht Frankfurt, winning 5-0 in the German Super Cup. In the months that followed, Kovač impressed and let Bayern Munich to the club’s seventh title in succession when they won 5-1, once more against his former club Eintracht Frankfurt. When they also defeated RB Leipzig in the DFB-Pokal final less than a week later, it meant that he had won the league and cup double for his new club, which he would later leave by mutual consent.

On the 19th of July 2020, Kovač was appointed head coach of Monaco, the Ligue 1 side. He impressed, defeating Paris Saint-Germain at the Paris des Princes for the first time since 2016, narrowly losing out to the monied team in the Coupe de France final. In spite of praise from the French media, things didn’t work out and he was released by Monaco in at the start of January 2022. VfL Wolfsburg appointed him on the 24th of May 2022, with the former Bayern Munich Bundesliga winner lasting until the March of 2024 before being sacked.

Arriving at Dortmund

After the sacking of Nuri Şahin as manager, Dortmund initially allowed Mike Tullberg to work as the club’s caretaker manager as they sought a new boss. The name that the directors decided was the right one for them was Kovač, giving him an 18-month deal on the 29th of January 2025, with the former Croatian captain beginning his job on the second of February. He lost his first two games as Dortmund boss, which obviously caused concern for players and supporters alike that he might not have what it takes.

@startimes_sports Borussia Dortmund fell to back-to-back defeats under new boss Niko Kovac in the Bundesliga after getting beaten 2-0 by relegation-threatened Bochum at Vonovia Ruhrstadion on Saturday. #bundesliga #startimesnigeria #dortmund #SportsOnTikTok #Highlights ♬ original sound – StarTimes Sports

Throughout his time as a manager, Kovač has implemented a system using four at the back, mixing it up between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3. His main focus has been on how clubs perform without the ball, working on increasing intensity in order to ensure that they can defend in a high-press and compact manner. He also likes to ensure he has some quick players in his side in order to ensure that they can hit people quickly on the counter, using his fast players in transitions that put other teams on the back foot that they struggle with.