Niko Kovač

**Niko Kovač** (born 15 October 1971) is a former Croatian football player. He has played for Croatia national team.

## Club career

He was born in Berlin (Germany) and so he started his career with his local club Hertha Zehlendorf. There he became member of its first team at the age of 17. 1991 he went to Hertha BSC and started his professional career in the Second German League. 1996 he went to Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga, where he played together with his younger brother Robert. The next clubs were Hamburger SV, Bayern Munich, where he was again teammate of his brother and again Hertha BSC. After the 2006 FIFA World Cup he signed with F.C. Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian Bundesliga. On 29 May 2009  he resigned from professional football. His last match was a friendly match of Red Bull Salzburg against Bayern Munich. During his career he played 454 matches and scored 56 goals.

## International career

He played from 1996 (versus Monaco) till 2009 for the Croatian national team. He played 83 matches and scored 15 goals. He was part of the Croatian team for the FIFA World Cup 2002 and 2006 and the UEFA Euro 2004 and 2008.

## Coaching career

2009 he became coach of the second squad of FC Red Bull Salzburg (Red Bull Juniors). In April 2011 he became assistance coach of Ricardo Moniz with the first squad. Then he went on to Croatia where he became coach of the U21 and the national team. After his time with Eintracht Frankfurt he became coach of FC Bayern Munic both in the German Bundesliga. He then became coach of AS Monaco in League 1 but had to go at the beginning of 2022.

### Club

|Club|Season|League|Cup|League Cup|Continental|Other|Total||||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Hertha Zehlendorf|1990–91|Oberliga Berlin|25|7|—|—|—|—|25|7|||||
|Hertha BSC II|1990–91|Oberliga Berlin|12|1|—|—|—|—|12|1|||||
|Hertha BSC|1991–92|2. Bundesliga Nord|12|0|0|0|—|—|—|12|0||||
|1992–93|2. Bundesliga|42|1|3|0|—|—|—|45|1|||||
|1993–94|2. Bundesliga|32|1|0|0|—|—|—|32|1|||||
|1994–95|2. Bundesliga|31|2|1|0|—|—|—|32|2|||||
|1995–96|2. Bundesliga|31|11|2|0|—|—|—|33|11|||||
|Bayer Leverkusen|1996–97|Bundesliga|32|3|1|0|—|—|—|33|3||||
|1997–98|Bundesliga|18|1|3|1|1|0|7|0|—|29|2|||
|1998–99|Bundesliga|27|4|1|0|2|0|4|0|—|34|4|||
|Hamburger SV|1999–2000|Bundesliga|30|8|1|0|—|—|—|31|8||||
|2000–01|Bundesliga|25|4|1|0|1|0|9|1|—|36|5|||
|Bayern Munich|2001–02|Bundesliga|16|2|3|1|1|0|4|0|2|0|26|3|
|2002–03|Bundesliga|18|1|4|0|1|0|2|1|—|25|2|||
|Hertha BSC|2003–04|Bundesliga|17|1|3|0|—|1|0|—|21|1|||
|2004–05|Bundesliga|30|4|1|0|—|—|—|31|4|||||
|2005–06|Bundesliga|28|3|3|1|1|0|4|0|—|36|4|||
|Red Bull Salzburg|2006–07|Austrian Bundesliga|28|6|1|0|—|6|0|—|35|6|||
|2007–08|Austrian Bundesliga|25|3|—|—|4|0|—|29|3|||||
|2008–09|Austrian Bundesliga|12|0|0|0|—|3|0|—|15|0||||

### International goals

|Goal|Date|Venue|Opponent|Score|Final|Competition|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|29 March 2000|Maksimir, Zagreb||<div style="text-align:center">**1**–1</div>|<div style="text-align:center">1–1</div>|Friendly|||||||
|2|5 September 2001|Olimpico, Serravalle||<div style="text-align:center">**1**–0</div>|<div style="text-align:center">4–0</div>|World Cup 2002 Qualifying|||||||
|3|8 May 2002|PMFC, Pécs||<div style="text-align:center">**2**–0</div>|<div style="text-align:center">2–0</div>|Friendly|||||||
|4|11 June 2003|A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn||<div style="text-align:center">**1**–0</div>|<div style="text-align:center">1–0</div>|rowspan=2|Euro 2004 Qualifying||||||
|5|6 September 2003|Comunal, Aixovall||<div style="text-align:center">**1**–0</div>|<div style="text-align:center">3–0</div>||||||||
|6|21 June 2004|Estádio da Luz, Lisbon||<div style="text-align:center">**1**–0</div>|<div style="text-align:center">2–4</div>|Euro 2004|||||||
|rowspan="2"|7–8|rowspan="2"|26 March 2005|rowspan="2"|Maksimir, Zagreb|rowspan="2"||<div style="text-align:center">**1**–0</div>|rowspan="2"|<div style="text-align:center">4–0</div>|rowspan="2"|World Cup 2006 Qualifying|
|<div style="text-align:center">**3**–0</div>|||||||||||||
|9|22 June 2006|Gottlieb-Daimler, Stuttgart||<div style="text-align:center">**2**–1</div>|<div style="text-align:center">2–2</div>|World Cup 2006|||||||
|rowspan="2"|10–11|rowspan="2"|22 August 2007|rowspan="2"|Koševo, Sarajevo|rowspan="2"||<div style="text-align:center">**3**–2</div>|rowspan="2"|<div style="text-align:center">5–3</div>|rowspan="4"|Friendly|
|<div style="text-align:center">**5**–3</div>|||||||||||||
|12|24 May 2008|Kantrida, Rijeka||<div style="text-align:center">**1**–0</div>|<div style="text-align:center">1–0</div>||||||||
|13|31 May 2008|Szusza Ferenc, Budapest||<div style="text-align:center">**1**–0</div>|<div style="text-align:center">1–1</div>||||||||
|14|6 September 2008|Maksimir, Zagreb||<div style="text-align:center">**1**–0</div>|<div style="text-align:center">3–0</div>|World Cup 2010 Qualifying|||||||

## Managerial statistics

|rowspan="2"|Team|rowspan="2"|From|rowspan="2"|To|colspan="8"|Record|rowspan=2||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Croatia U21|align=left|21 January 2013|align=left|16 October 2013||||||
|Croatia|align=left|16 October 2013|align=left|9 September 2015||||||
|Eintracht Frankfurt|align=left|8 March 2016|align=left|30 June 2018||||||
|Bayern Munich|align=left|1 July 2018|align=left|3 November 2019||||||
|Monaco|align=left|19 July 2020|align=left|1 January 2022||||||
|VfL Wolfsburg|align=left|24 May 2022|align=left|17 March 2024||||||
|Borussia Dortmund|align=left|2 February 2025|align=left|present||||||

### Player

**Bayern Munich**
- Bundesliga: 2002–03
- DFB-Pokal: 2002–03
- Intercontinental Cup: 2001

**Red Bull Salzburg**
- Austrian Bundesliga: 2006–07

### Manager

**Eintracht Frankfurt**
- DFB-Pokal: 2017–18; runner-up: 2016–17

**Bayern Munich**
- Bundesliga: 2018–19
- DFB-Pokal: 2018–19
- DFL-Supercup: 2018

**Monaco**
- Coupe de France runner-up: 2020–21

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Niko Kovač
- **image**: FC Salzburg gegen GNK Dinamo Zagreb (2024-10-23 Championsleague Dritte Runde) 04.jpg
- **caption**: Kovač in 2024
- **full name**: Niko Kovač
- **birth place**: West Berlin, West Germany
- **height**: 1.78 m
- **position**: Defensive midfielder
- **currentclub**: Borussia Dortmund (manager)
- **youthyears1**: 1987–1989
- **youthclubs1**: SV Nord Wedding 1893, Rapide Wedding
- **youthyears2**: 1989–1990
- **youthclubs2**: Hertha Zehlendorf
- **years1**: 1990–1991
- **clubs1**: Hertha Zehlendorf
- **caps1**: 25
- **goals1**: 7
- **years2**: 1991
- **clubs2**: Hertha BSC II
- **caps2**: 12
- **goals2**: 1
- **years3**: 1992–1996
- **clubs3**: Hertha BSC
- **caps3**: 138
- **goals3**: 15
- **years4**: 1996–1999
- **clubs4**: Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Bayer Leverkusen
- **caps4**: 77
- **goals4**: 8
- **years5**: 1999–2001
- **clubs5**: Hamburger SV
- **caps5**: 55
- **goals5**: 12
- **years6**: 2001–2003
- **clubs6**: FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich
- **caps6**: 34
- **goals6**: 3
- **years7**: 2003–2006
- **clubs7**: Hertha BSC
- **caps7**: 75
- **goals7**: 8
- **years8**: 2006–2009
- **clubs8**: FC Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull Salzburg
- **caps8**: 65
- **goals8**: 9
- **totalcaps**: 491
- **totalgoals**: 63
- **nationalyears1**: 1996–2008
- **nationalteam1**: Croatia national football team, Croatia
- **nationalcaps1**: 83
- **nationalgoals1**: 14
- **manageryears1**: 2012–2013
- **managerclubs1**: Croatia national under-21 football team, Croatia U21
- **manageryears2**: 2013–2015
- **managerclubs2**: Croatia national football team, Croatia
- **manageryears3**: 2016–2018
- **managerclubs3**: Eintracht Frankfurt
- **manageryears4**: 2018–2019
- **managerclubs4**: FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich
- **manageryears5**: 2020–2022
- **managerclubs5**: AS Monaco FC, Monaco
- **manageryears6**: 2022–2024
- **managerclubs6**: VfL Wolfsburg
- **manageryears7**: 2025–
- **managerclubs7**: Borussia Dortmund