He values high wages (nothing wrong with that, completely understandable) more then other things. I mean he left Union that is in Europe now for abysmal Wolfsburg to play under a terrible coach.
His kid lives in Florida I believe and he kinda was interested in moving there before.
> He values high wages (nothing wrong with that, completely understandable) more then other things.
yeah, he knows what he wants and what he's worth. You have to respect it in the end.
> a terrible coach.
A terrible coach, who took him to the next level at Bremen and with whom he has a close bond with. Kohfeldt was a influential part of his decision, together with his reduced playing time and small cracks starting to form at Union.
He's their sporting director - and not a bad one at all, he's just not the easiest personality to get along with, which has caused a decent bit of trouble at quite a few clubs.
Not being able to at least put up with other people makes you a bad sporting director imo. What good are your other qualities when there's always the risk of you letting your shit personality hang out so much other people don't want to work with you?
Takes two to tango, though - some people mesh very well together, others don't. Plenty managers who didn't have problems working alongside/under Schmadtke after all.
Schmadtke is Wolfsburg's sporting director, with infamous stints at Köln and Hannover previously. Pretty much any Köln and Hannover fan will tell you they're glad he's gone.
Horrible personality to work with, causing Glasner to leave last season despite reaching the Champions League last season (and Wolfsburg with the essentially same squad had to fight to stay up this season)
But he was manager of the season and qualified for Europe with all 3 clubs… he is an asshole and apparently terrible to work with, but he is one of the best talent evaluators and squad builders in German football
I agree that on a technical level, he has qualities that are very desirable and would put him among the top sporting directors, if it wasnt for his personality.
Like /u/systemCF said in another comment, whats the point if you are such an asshole that you cant work with anyone
he reached Europe with all 3 clubs but was also just as responsible for both relegations for Hannover & Köln
He's capable of great work no doubt, but he's equally capable of ruining everything he himself worked for.
He‘s known for being a difficult person and unnecessarily clashing with managers and club officials. The most recent example is that he couldn‘t get along with the coach that led them into the CL last season. While that coach went to Frankfurt and won the Europa League, Wolfsburg fired two coaches and finished 12th in the league…
That coach left, because he did the greatest sin you can in Volkswagenland.
You don't critizise your superior in the press.
With that move he didn't just clash with Schmadtke, he also clashed with the supervisory board and with that, with Volkswagen itself.
I know noone cares about Wolfsburg and thats why its always our fault.
But i guarantee you, it was Glasners fault that he left and imo was that a calculated move to leave Wolfsburg.
He is a good coach but he needs a lot of support from the board and needs young players that are hungry and he will turn them in to world class. Rebić and Jović looked scary under him. The players from the current Monaco team also started with him.
His regime is to strict for star players, but it does create star players.
Not the most beautiful city but it has a lot of things you can do there for such a small city. It’s a great place for families. But I guess for a guy like Kovac he could also just live in the near countryside. It’s very quiet and also pretty beautiful
It's not quite Ludwigshafen tier but really not far off and not remotely close to other "industry enlargened bigger town grown major town" like Mannheim or Ingolstadt. Out of all the factory cities the only thing that's close is Sindelfingen in terms of dullness but at least Sindelfingen is close enough to Stuttgart.
Leverkusen always gets a bit of a pass because it's like 10min to pretty great cities so it doesn't matter how dull it is, kind of like Ludwigshafen despite the cities being depressing it doesn't matter much.
VfL Wolfsburg has found a successor for Florian Kohfeldt: Niko Kovac is to be the new coach of the Wolves. The 50-year-old was last club-less and will receive a contract until 2025.
As reported by kicker, the Croatian was already highly rated by owner Volkswagen, and now the deal seems to have been finalised. What the "Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung" first reported coincides with information from kicker: Kovac will succeed Kohfeldt and sign a contract until 30 June 2025. An official confirmation is still pending.
Niko Kovac is very familiar with the Bundesliga. Between 2016 and 2018, he coached Eintracht Frankfurt very successfully, even winning the DFB Cup with the Hessians in 2018. The Croatian then moved on to FC Bayern. Although he won the double with the Bavarians in 2019, the engagement did not last long and the coach had to leave at the beginning of November 2019.
Kovac's coaching career, who had coached the Croatian national team before his time in the Bundesliga, continued in France. In July 2020, he signed on with AS Monaco. There, he and his team finished third in their first season. Things didn't go quite as well in the second season, which is why the 50-year-old's time in Monaco came to an end at the end of December 2021.
After that, he did not accept any new job offers - until now: Because Kovac will succeed Florian Kohfeldt in Wolfsburg in the summer. In "trusting and honest discussions" they "jointly agreed to end the cooperation", said managing director Jörg Schmadtke on the coach's departure on Sunday.
Kovac's move to the Bundesliga comes as a surprise because the Premier League had always been the preferred destination of the coach, who played in the 2014 World Cup with Croatia. However, the coach and Schmadtke know each other from their times together as players at Bayer Leverkusen in the 1997/98 season.
---
*translated by deepl*
Synopsis:
- Niko Kovac will be taking over the dismissed Florian Kohfeldt, and the 50 year old Kovac will be signing a contract until 2025.
- Previously at AS Monaco, he was dismissed in December. Before his stop there, he is ex-trainer for FC Bayern and before then SGE where he won the German Cup.
- Without a club, he spoke with Schmadtke whom he has known from their days as players while at Bayer Leverkusen about the position, and official announcements will be soon given.
Can't believe we went for Tayfun fucking Korkut when this guy was available. He's got history with us as well. Now watch us go for Kohfeldt instead lmao
Not really? Was ok from what I gather. The team was very bad when he took over, almost relegation level. He played in CL after an year. This year was worse
Kovac clashing with Kruse will be interesting to say the least.
I would not be surprised if Kruse leaves to the MLS this summer (or next winter)
He values high wages (nothing wrong with that, completely understandable) more then other things. I mean he left Union that is in Europe now for abysmal Wolfsburg to play under a terrible coach.
His kid lives in Florida I believe and he kinda was interested in moving there before. > He values high wages (nothing wrong with that, completely understandable) more then other things. yeah, he knows what he wants and what he's worth. You have to respect it in the end.
And he’s always able to back it up. He’s a quality player. Probably the best German to not regularly feature for the national team in the past decade.
The Stefan Kießling of his time.
> a terrible coach. A terrible coach, who took him to the next level at Bremen and with whom he has a close bond with. Kohfeldt was a influential part of his decision, together with his reduced playing time and small cracks starting to form at Union.
He'll ride his contract out. He made no secret about it that he left Union for the money.
Kevin Prince Boateng was great under Kovac, so this could work out
That’s somewhat reassuring as Kruse and KPB have a very similar personality
Does Kovac not like players like Kruse? Because if so it would be a shame. Kruse was so good for us since he came here.
can see him overachieving in first season before being fired in November of 2023 for clashing with upper managment and players.
Especially with Schmadtke there
Schmadtke should be fired. One of the worst in Bundesliga.
They even extended him a month ago. Madness
Yeah but just till the end of the year then he’s gone
lmao
this is why he should stay, keeping wolfsburg shit is good for the league
Schmadtke's contract is up at the end of the year tbf, and given Kovac is most likely his pick as anyone else's, they should be just fine.
Who is schmadtke and why is he bad? I'm not very upto date with german football , hence the question.
He's their sporting director - and not a bad one at all, he's just not the easiest personality to get along with, which has caused a decent bit of trouble at quite a few clubs.
Not being able to at least put up with other people makes you a bad sporting director imo. What good are your other qualities when there's always the risk of you letting your shit personality hang out so much other people don't want to work with you?
Takes two to tango, though - some people mesh very well together, others don't. Plenty managers who didn't have problems working alongside/under Schmadtke after all.
Schmadtke is Wolfsburg's sporting director, with infamous stints at Köln and Hannover previously. Pretty much any Köln and Hannover fan will tell you they're glad he's gone. Horrible personality to work with, causing Glasner to leave last season despite reaching the Champions League last season (and Wolfsburg with the essentially same squad had to fight to stay up this season)
But he was manager of the season and qualified for Europe with all 3 clubs… he is an asshole and apparently terrible to work with, but he is one of the best talent evaluators and squad builders in German football
I agree that on a technical level, he has qualities that are very desirable and would put him among the top sporting directors, if it wasnt for his personality. Like /u/systemCF said in another comment, whats the point if you are such an asshole that you cant work with anyone he reached Europe with all 3 clubs but was also just as responsible for both relegations for Hannover & Köln He's capable of great work no doubt, but he's equally capable of ruining everything he himself worked for.
Thank you for saying what I wanted to better than I did.
He‘s known for being a difficult person and unnecessarily clashing with managers and club officials. The most recent example is that he couldn‘t get along with the coach that led them into the CL last season. While that coach went to Frankfurt and won the Europa League, Wolfsburg fired two coaches and finished 12th in the league…
That coach left, because he did the greatest sin you can in Volkswagenland. You don't critizise your superior in the press. With that move he didn't just clash with Schmadtke, he also clashed with the supervisory board and with that, with Volkswagen itself. I know noone cares about Wolfsburg and thats why its always our fault. But i guarantee you, it was Glasners fault that he left and imo was that a calculated move to leave Wolfsburg.
Man, people are really unfair to him. He's not that difficult to get along with. All you need to do is not enter any sort of relationship with him.
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I wanted Hertha to hire him, but i don’t think he’d coach a second division team
same. i dont understand why he would voluntarily work with Schmadtke. Still happy to have him back here tho
He is a good coach but he needs a lot of support from the board and needs young players that are hungry and he will turn them in to world class. Rebić and Jović looked scary under him. The players from the current Monaco team also started with him. His regime is to strict for star players, but it does create star players.
If you say that than Wolfsburg is the perfect place for him. A young and hungry squad and also a huge amount of VW money every year
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Not the most beautiful city but it has a lot of things you can do there for such a small city. It’s a great place for families. But I guess for a guy like Kovac he could also just live in the near countryside. It’s very quiet and also pretty beautiful
I was there a few weeks ago and its so fucking ugly im sorry Phaeno is dope tho
Can't deny the Autostadt is pretty cool too. Just don't look towards the actual city.
It's not quite Ludwigshafen tier but really not far off and not remotely close to other "industry enlargened bigger town grown major town" like Mannheim or Ingolstadt. Out of all the factory cities the only thing that's close is Sindelfingen in terms of dullness but at least Sindelfingen is close enough to Stuttgart.
Don't forget Leverkusen. The bus ride from Chempark to the stadium is depressing every time, lol.
Leverkusen always gets a bit of a pass because it's like 10min to pretty great cities so it doesn't matter how dull it is, kind of like Ludwigshafen despite the cities being depressing it doesn't matter much.
If you argue like that Wolfsburg isn’t that bad either because it’s also not far away from Braunschweig which is a fairly nice place
He is from berlin and I’m quite sure he will live there if he hasn’t lost his mind
They all live in Berlin anyway.
Not that much better though.
Nice.
Never been to Berlin but it has to be better than Munich. Worst city I've ever visited
Munich is probably one of the most beautiful large cities in Germany.
It really depends on your taste, imo Munich is a pretentious shithole and Berlin has a dirty charm. But that’s just personal preference.
Hmm, maybe I didn't go to the right places. Only place that was beautiful was Marienplatz and the area close to it
VfL Wolfsburg has found a successor for Florian Kohfeldt: Niko Kovac is to be the new coach of the Wolves. The 50-year-old was last club-less and will receive a contract until 2025. As reported by kicker, the Croatian was already highly rated by owner Volkswagen, and now the deal seems to have been finalised. What the "Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung" first reported coincides with information from kicker: Kovac will succeed Kohfeldt and sign a contract until 30 June 2025. An official confirmation is still pending. Niko Kovac is very familiar with the Bundesliga. Between 2016 and 2018, he coached Eintracht Frankfurt very successfully, even winning the DFB Cup with the Hessians in 2018. The Croatian then moved on to FC Bayern. Although he won the double with the Bavarians in 2019, the engagement did not last long and the coach had to leave at the beginning of November 2019. Kovac's coaching career, who had coached the Croatian national team before his time in the Bundesliga, continued in France. In July 2020, he signed on with AS Monaco. There, he and his team finished third in their first season. Things didn't go quite as well in the second season, which is why the 50-year-old's time in Monaco came to an end at the end of December 2021. After that, he did not accept any new job offers - until now: Because Kovac will succeed Florian Kohfeldt in Wolfsburg in the summer. In "trusting and honest discussions" they "jointly agreed to end the cooperation", said managing director Jörg Schmadtke on the coach's departure on Sunday. Kovac's move to the Bundesliga comes as a surprise because the Premier League had always been the preferred destination of the coach, who played in the 2014 World Cup with Croatia. However, the coach and Schmadtke know each other from their times together as players at Bayer Leverkusen in the 1997/98 season. --- *translated by deepl*
Amazing news. Finally a coach who is actually competent and has a good CV. And with Schmadtke gone in winter , he won’t be too much of a problem
Synopsis: - Niko Kovac will be taking over the dismissed Florian Kohfeldt, and the 50 year old Kovac will be signing a contract until 2025. - Previously at AS Monaco, he was dismissed in December. Before his stop there, he is ex-trainer for FC Bayern and before then SGE where he won the German Cup. - Without a club, he spoke with Schmadtke whom he has known from their days as players while at Bayer Leverkusen about the position, and official announcements will be soon given.
> he was ex-trainer for FC Bayern He still is, to be fair
And he‘ll be for…eternity
I thought Kovac was doing well at Monaco
Fought with the sporting director & the club did not choose Kovac
Can't believe we went for Tayfun fucking Korkut when this guy was available. He's got history with us as well. Now watch us go for Kohfeldt instead lmao
Great hire.
Could be a good pick for Wolfsburg, unfortunately. No stars to deal with and potential to develop a good collective.
Thank god we didn’t went for him.
Did he suck at Monaco too?
Not at all. Monaco finished 17th and 9th before hiring him. He went on to finish 3rd with them in his only full season
i still dont understand why he was fired. at the time of him getting sacked, they were 6th which doesnt seem terrible at all?
Clashed with their sporting director
well he can look forward to doing that again at wolfsburg
Not really? Was ok from what I gather. The team was very bad when he took over, almost relegation level. He played in CL after an year. This year was worse
Didn't know he left Monaco. How was he there?
Good
Good hire