Hertha Berlin have promoted reserve team coach Ante Covic to succeed Pal Dardai as first-team boss. - © imago/Picture Point

bundesliga

Ante Covic to succeed Pal Dardai as Hertha Berlin head coach

12.05.2019

Hertha Berlin have named reserve team coach Ante Covic as their new head coach for the 2019/20 season, succeeding Pal Dardai at the Olympiastadion.

Like his predecessor, Covic is a former Hertha player having spent a total of 11 seasons with the club. Following his retirement, he became coach of the club’s U15s and has been in charge of the reserves since 2013, bringing through players such as Arne Maier, Jordan Torunarigha and Maximilian Mittelstädt.

“We have again gone for one of our own as our coach. Ante embodies Hertha passion and we’re sure he’ll impart that on the team,” said sporting director Michael Preetz. “We said from the start we wanted a coach with the Hertha DNA. Ante Covic understands this DNA better than any other candidate.

“He knows our young players, has shaped them, promoted them and prepared them for professional football. Now he’ll establish these players in the Bundesliga.”

Like his predecessor, Covic is a former Hertha player and coach of the reserve team. - imago images / Picture Point

During his playing career he also featured for VfB Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Bochum and Saarbrücken. Like current Bayern Munich boss Niko Kovac, Covic was born in Berlin to Croatian parents and represented the country as well as his hometown club.

“As a Berlin native who played for Hertha Berlin and has spent years at this club as a coach, this is a childhood dream come true,” Covic said of his appointment. “I was able to experience the Hertha fans as a player and now I’m looking forward to feeling that again as a coach. My excitement for the new season couldn’t be greater.”