Robert Kovač

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Robert Kovač
Robert Kovac.jpg
during his tenure with Borussia Dortmund
Personal information
Date of birth 6 April 1974 (1974-04-06) (age 37)
Place of birth Berlin, West Germany
Height 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Centre–back
Youth career
1980–1986 Rapide Wedding
1986–1991 Hertha Zehlendorf
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1991–1995 Hertha Zehlendorf 112 (12)
1995–1996 1. FC Nuremberg 33 (1)
1996–2001 Bayer Leverkusen 127 (1)
2001–2005 Bayern Munich 94 (1)
2005–2007 Juventus 35 (1)
2007–2008 Borussia Dortmund 26 (0)
2009–2010 Dinamo Zagreb 22 (0)
Total 449 (16)
National team‡
1999–2009 Croatia 84 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 6 March 2010.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 October 2009

Robert Kovač (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈrɔbɛrt ˈkɔʋaːtʃ]; born 6 April 1974 in Berlin, West Germany) is a retired Croatian football defender.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Kovač started his career in lower league clubs Rapide Wedding and Hertha Zehlendorf before making his Bundesliga debut with 1. FC Nuremberg in 1995. Regularly featuring in the first–eleven, Kovač attracted much attention to himself and was signed at the end of the season by Leverkusen.

[edit] Bayer Leverkusen

He spent the next five seasons in Leverkusen without any significant success, as the club did not win any trophy during that period, although they were three times Fußball-Bundesliga runners–up.

[edit] Bayern Munich

After his contract expired he went to join reigning champions of 2000–01 season and UEFA Champions League title holders, Bayern Munich. In four seasons with Bayern he won two Budesliga titles, two German Cup titles and 2001 Intercontinental Cup.

[edit] Juventus

On 15 July 2005, he signed for Juventus. He was one of the few first–team players that decided to stay in Juve following its demotion to Serie B. He made a total of 35 appearances and scored one goal before he moved back to Germany, this time for Borussia Dortmund.

[edit] Borussia Dortmund

On 1 August 2007, he signed for Borussia Dortmund, alongside another Croatian national team star, Mladen Petrić, who signed for the club two months earlier. Kovač had an unsuccessful comeback to Fußball-Bundesliga and was sold to Dinamo Zagreb at the winter transfer window of 2008–09 season.

[edit] Dinamo Zagreb

On 29 January 2009, close to the January transfer window deadline, he signed 1 and a half year contract with Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb.[1] The club previously tried to sign him in the summer of 2007, but failed to meet his demands.[2] Borussia Dortmund were compensated with €450,000. In his debut season Kovač made 12 appearances in the league and 2 more in Croatian Cup. He started the 2009–10 season with a foot injury and missed all of Dinamo's matches in July and August, but returned to action at the start of the September.[3] Kovač finished the season with a total of 22 appearances for Dinamo in all competitions, before it was officially announced on 1 June 2010 that he retired from active football.[4]

[edit] National team

He represented Croatia in 2 World Cups, 2002 and 2006, and has also participated at two European Championships, 2004 and 2008. At World Cup 2006 he played well in defence, however after picking up a second yellow against Japan he missed the final group match against Australia through suspension. Without Kovač, Croatia struggled in defence with his replacement Tomas committing handball for Australia's first goal via penalty kick. Croatia eventually drew 2–2 with Australia but were eliminated from the tournament. With Croatia, Leverkusen, and Bayern, Kovač was teammates with his older brother Niko Kovač. He retired from the national team in the fall of 2009, being a captain of the team after his brother's retirement in 2008.

[edit] Personal life

Robert Kovač, along with his older brother Niko, was born in Berlin to a family of Bosnian Croats immigrants. He is married to a former Croatian model and Miss World 1995 first runner-up, Anica Kovač, who also originates from Croatian diaspora in Berlin.[5]

[edit] Honours

[edit] Career statistics

As of 13 September 2009[6][7][8][9][10][11]
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Germany League DFB-Pokal Premiere Ligapokal Europe Total
1991–92 Hertha Zehlendorf NOFV-Oberliga Mitte 27 1 27 1
1992–93 29 2 29 2
1993–94 32 5 32 5
1994–95 Regionalliga Nordost 24 4 24 4
1995–96 Nuremberg 2. Fußball-Bundesliga 33 1 1 0 34 1
1996–97 Bayer Leverkusen Fußball-Bundesliga 13 0 13 0
1997–98 25 0 25 0
1998–99 31 0 31 0
1999–00 27 1 1 0 2 0 30 1
2000–01 31 0 1 0 32 0
2001–02 Bayern Munich 29 0 8 0 31 0
2002–03 24 0 1 0 1 0 5 0 31 0
2003–04 19 0 1 0 7 0 27 0
2004–05 22 0 3 0 8 0 33 0
Italy League Coppa Italia League Cup Europe Total
2005–06 Juventus Serie A 18 1 4 0 22 1
2006–07 Serie B 17 0 0 0 17 0
Germany League DFB-Pokal Premiere Ligapokal Europe Total
2007–08 Borussia Dortmund Fußball-Bundesliga 22 0 5 0 0 0 27 0
2008–09 4 0 2 0 1 0 7 0
Croatia League Croatian Cup League Cup Europe Total
2008–09 Dinamo Zagreb Prva HNL 12 0 2 0 0 0 14 0
2009–10 8 0 0 0 6 0 14 0
Total Germany 392 14 13 0 3 0 31 0 439 14
Italy 35 1 4 0 39 1
Croatia 13 0 2 0 0 0 15 0
Career total 440 3 15 0 3 0 35 0 493 3

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Robert Kovač u Dinamu" (in Croatian). nk-dinamo.hr. 29 January 2009. http://www.nk-dinamo.hr/vijest/prikaz/1390/default.aspx. Retrieved 8 September 2009. 
  2. ^ "Dinamo odustao od Roberta Kovača" (in Croatian). nk-dinamo.hr. 19 June 2007. http://www.nk-dinamo.hr/vijest/prikaz/361/default.aspx. Retrieved 8 September 2009. 
  3. ^ "Kovač: Opet sam spreman za igru" (in Croatian). nk-dinamo.hr. 1 September 2009. http://www.nk-dinamo.hr/vijest/prikaz/1853/default.aspx. Retrieved 8 September 2009. 
  4. ^ Rupnik, Borna (1 June 2010). "Robert Kovač prekinuo karijeru" (in Croatian). Sportnet.hr. http://www.sportnet.hr/vijesti/398197/nogomet-1-hnl/robert-kovac-prekinuo-karijeru. Retrieved 1 June 2010. 
  5. ^ "Robert Kovač i Anica Martinović najsretniji bračni par" (in Croatian). index.hr. http://www.index.hr/xmag/clanak/robert-kovac-i-anica-martinovic-najsretniji-bracni-par/299923.aspx. Retrieved 8 September 2009. 
  6. ^ "Career statistics". Nogometni Magazin. http://www.hnl-statistika.com/p1.asp?ID=1263. 
  7. ^ "Career statistics" (in German). transfermarkt.de. http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/spieler/75/kovac-robert/default/2009/leistungsdaten.html. 
  8. ^ "Career statistics" (in Croatian). Dinamo Zagreb's official website. http://www.nk-dinamo.hr/igrac/prikaz/1440/default.aspx. 
  9. ^ "Career statistics". soccernet.com. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=12652&cc=5739. 
  10. ^ "Robert Kovac" (in German). fussballdaten.de. http://www.fussballdaten.de/spieler/kovacrobert/. Retrieved 13 February 2010. 
  11. ^ "Career statistics". National Football Teams. http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=1740. 

[edit] External links

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