TLayoffs in the French Ligue 1 football league at the end of the year are tricky. A year ago, on Christmas Eve, news made the rounds in various media that Thomas Tuchel’s time at Paris Saint-Germain had started. However, there was initially no confirmation from the association. And so the football world asked itself for a few days: Is Tuchel still a coach at the capital city club or not? It was not until five days later that the club officially announced: It is no longer.
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Now the game is repeated with a different club and a different coach: According to information from the AFP news agency and the French sports newspaper “L’Equipe”, AS Monaco has sacked its coach Niko Kovac. The “kicker” writes that his information coincides with it. And what does the club do? He is silent. There hasn’t been anything new on the website since the day before Christmas Eve, the Twitter account reminisces.
Kovac has been a trainer in Monaco for a year and a half. After leaving FC Bayern in autumn 2019, he took over the club from the principality in summer 2020 and signed a contract until mid-2023. Last season, the Croat, who was born in Berlin, landed with the Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club Third place in the French league. But that wasn’t enough to qualify for the Champions League. In the playoffs in August, Kovac and his team failed narrowly and unhappily to Shakhtar Donetsk.
Monaco sixth after the first half of the season
Things went better in the Europa League. Monaco ended the group stage first without defeat and qualified directly for the round of 16. In Ligue 1 they are sixth after the first half of the season, 17 points behind the dominant leader Paris, who was chased for a long time last year in the battle for the championship title, but only just behind the ranks that lead to the European Cup. In addition to international striker Kevin Volland, goalkeeper Alexander Nübel, who is on loan from Munich, and Ismail Jakobs, who was bought from Cologne in the summer, are part of the squad.
According to media reports, the club’s officials told the 50-year-old Croat on Thursday that he was no longer responsible for the team. Kovac did not seem particularly surprised by the decision, but seemed taken. Recently, there had already been speculation that those responsible were not satisfied with Kovac. The lack of further development of the team was a problem, it said. He was unable to raise the level of his team, nor did he advance the players individually.
Most recently, however, there was only one defeat in eleven games, before the holidays Monaco won 2-1 against fourth-placed Stade Rennes. The Christmas break followed and now Kovac’s supposed dismissal. The club doesn’t have much time to express itself. This Sunday (6.30 p.m.) Monaco will continue in the Coupe de France at the second division club US Quevilly-Rouen Metropole. Who is sitting there on the bench? Uncertain. Last season, the Monegasque reached the final, but lost the final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Even in Munich, Kovac had not met the expectations of those responsible, even if there were definitely sporting successes. After a 1: 5 in Frankfurt, however, the dismissal stood. His assistant Hansi Flick took over. The rest is history. From July 2018 to November 2019, Kovac was the coach of FC Bayern and won the double in 2019. The Croat had come from Eintracht Frankfurt and had previously won the cup final with the Hessians against his future employer. As Croatian national coach, he looked after the team around the 2014 World Cup, but failed there in the preliminary round.
After Kovac’s release in Munich, his assistant Hansi Flick (left) took over and won numerous titles with FC Bayern.
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Bild: picture alliance/dpa
Especially Dmitri Rybolowlew, the very rich club boss from Russia, who took over AS Monaco ten years ago and won the championship title in 2017, is said to have had a quarrel with the 50-year-old Kovac, according to “L’Equipe”. Apparently it was no longer right in the cabin either. Most recently there should have been tensions between Kovac and the team, not least with captain and striker Wissam Ben Yedder. Even before the end of Kovac was officially announced, there is speculation about his successor. The Belgian Philippe Clement should take over, according to AFP. However, the 47-year-old Belgian has been a coach at Master Club Bruges since 2019.
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