Niko Kovac is a famous Croatian footballer. He played for German clubs, including the famous Munich Bayern Munich. Champion of Germany and holder of the Intercontinental Cup. Since 2009 he has been engaged in coaching activities.
Biography
The parents of the future football player were civilian workers, and when the family was in West Berlin, Germany to earn money, in October 1971, on the 15th, they had a son, Niko Kovacs. From early childhood, he wanted to play sports, and especially football, he simply adored him. For days he played ball in the yard and dreamed of one day becoming a professional footballer. After graduation, he was lucky and he ended up in the youth academy of the local football club "Hertha 03 Zelendorf".
Career
Two years spent in a semi-amateur club were not in vain - all this time the scouts of more serious clubs watched the promising footballer, and in 1991 Kovacs received an offer from the club of the second division of Germany "Hertha". The novice footballer, without hesitation, signed his first professional contract and moved to a new club. Niko Kovacs spent six years at Hertha Berlin, during which time he played 148 matches and even scored 16 goals. Moreover, he attracted the attention of the coach of the Croatian national team and since 1996 began to appear regularly in the camp of the Croatian team. In the same year he left Hertha and signed a three-year contract with Bayer 04.
In the new club, Niko continued to play at a high level and regularly appeared in the starting lineup. In three seasons, he had 77 meetings, most of them from the first minutes, and scored eight goals. In 1999, another transfer took place, this time to the Hamburg football club. In the club from the city of the same name, Niko did not stay for long and two years later he moved to the grandee of German football - the famous Munich Bayern Munich. Here Kovacs won his first trophies and titles in his career. In 2001, he raised two prestigious trophies overhead at once: the intercontinental cup and the UEFA Super Cup. And according to the results of the 2003 season, Bayern took first place in the national championship and Kovacs became the champion of Germany.
The famous footballer ended his playing career at the Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg, where he played from 2006 to 2009. As part of the Salzburg club, Niko became the champion of Austria in 2007.
Coaching work
At the end of his playing career, Niko Kovacs remained at the Austrian club as a coach of the youth team. Two years later, he rose to the position of assistant coach for the main team. From 2013 to 2015, he was the head coach of the Croatian national team. He did not achieve great results there and returned to Germany, where he coached Eintracht Frankfurt for two years. Since 2018, Kovacs has headed the best club in Germany - Bayern Munich.
Personal life
Niko Kovacs is married. With his chosen one and future wife Christina, he met back in the days when he appeared on the field as an ordinary football player. The couple got married in 1999 and they have a daughter named Laura.
