Robert Kovač

Robert Kovač
Personal information
Date of birth	6 April 1974 (1974-04-06) (age 36)
Place of birth	Berlin, West Germany
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Centre–back
Youth career
1980–1986 1986–1991	Rapide Wedding Hertha Zehlendorf
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1991–1995 1995–1996 1996–2001 2001–2005 2005–2007 2007–2008 2009–2010	Hertha Zehlendorf 1. FC Nuremberg Bayer Leverkusen Bayern Munich Juventus Borussia Dortmund Dinamo Zagreb	112 (12) 033 0(1) 127 0(1) 094 0(1) 035 0(1) 026 0(0) 022 0(0)
National team2
1999–2009	Croatia	084 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 6 March 2010. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 17 October 2009. * Appearances (Goals)

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

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

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.

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.

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

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 apearances for Dinamo in all competitions, before it was officially announced on 1 June 2010 that he retired from active football.^[4]

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.

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]

Honours

• Bayern Munich
  • German Champions: 2002–03, 2004–05
  • German Cup: 2003, 2005
  • League Cup: 2004
  • Intercontinental Cup: 2001

• Juventus
  • Serie B champions: 2006–07

• Dinamo Zagreb
  • Croatian champions: 2008–09
  • Croatian Cup: 2009

Career statistics

As of 13 September 2009^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]}

References

External links

• Robert Kovač - FIFA competition record
• Robert Kovač statistics and biography at FootballDatabase.com
• Robert Kovač at National-Football-Teams.com
• List of national appearances at official website of Croatian Football Federation
• Profile at transfermarkt.de (German)

Croatia squads Croatia squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa • 2 Šerić • 3 Šimunić • 4 Tomas • 5 Rapaić • 6 Živković • 7 Vugrinec • 8 Prosinečki • 9 Šuker (c) • 10 N. Kovač • 11 Bokšić • 12 Butina • 13 Stanić • 14 Soldo • 15 Šarić • 16 Vranješ • 17 Jarni • 18 Olić • 19 Vlaović • 20 Šimić • 21 R. Kovač • 22 Balaban • 23 Vasilj • Coach: Jozić Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 Vasilj • 2 Tokić • 3 Šimunić • 4 Tomas • 5 Tudor • 6 Živković (c) • 7 Rapaić • 8 Srna • 9 Pršo • 10 Niko Kovač • 11 Šokota • 12 Butina • 13 Šimić • 14 Neretljak • 15 Leko • 16 Babić • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 Mornar • 20 Roso • 21 Robert Kovač • 22 Bjelica • 23 Didulica • Coach: Otto Barić Croatia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Pletikosa • 2 Srna • 3 Šimunić • 4 R. Kovač • 5 Tudor • 6 Vranješ • 7 Šimić • 8 Babić • 9 Pršo • 10 N. Kovač (c) • 11 Tokić • 12 Didulica • 13 Tomas • 14 Modrić • 15 I. Leko • 16 J. Leko • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 N. Kranjčar • 20 Šerić • 21 Balaban • 22 Bošnjak • 23 Butina • Coach: Z. Kranjčar Croatia squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Pletikosa • 2 Šimić • 3 Šimunić • 4 R. Kovač • 5 Ćorluka • 6 Vejić • 7 Rakitić • 8 Vukojević • 9 Kalinić • 10 N. Kovač (c) • 11 Srna • 12 Galinović • 13 Pokrivač • 14 Modrić • 15 Knežević • 16 Leko • 17 Klasnić • 18 Olić • 19 Kranjčar • 20 Budan • 21 Petrić • 22 Pranjić • 23 Runje • Coach: Bilić