Why Kovač deserves his new Dortmund deal

Dortmund were 11th in the league and had been knocked out in the second round of DFB Cup when Kovač replaced Nuri Şahin as head coach in January, initially on an 18-month contract.

But a huge upswing in BVB's fortunes, which included Champions League qualification and now boasts a 10-game unbeaten run in the Bundesliga, makes his extension until 2027 nothing if not undertsandable.

bundesliga.com looks at some of the changes Kovač has made...

Die Schwarzgelben have had busier summers than the current one, but sacrificing Jamie Gittens, ultimately letting him leave for Chelsea, was one of the Croatian coach's first big calls. 

The winger hit 12 goals and five assists across last season’s run to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, but had lost his place in the team by the time they recovered to qualify for this year's competition.

With Jobe Bellingham and now Carney Chukwuemeka signed, from Sunderland and Chelsea respectively, BVB have signed players who can assuage his loss.

Watch: Bellingham settling in at BVB

Bellingham is not a like-for-like replacement for Gittens, but he doesn’t need to be. The rising England U21 star was central, quite literally, to Sunderland’s promotion to the Premier League in 2024/25, and now has Daniel Svensson and Yan Couto either side of him after their loan deals from FC Nordsjælland and Manchester City respectively were made permanent.

Kovač replaced club legend Şahin as Dortmund with the team floundering. Şahin had been playing with a 4-2-3-1 formation, one Kovač was familiar with having used it to win the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in 2019, and the new man stuck with the old system at first.

Gittens thrived on the left wing, making penetrating runs, showing speed on transition and, for some, looking like the mirror image of Arjen Robben – who Kovač had worked with at Bayern – cutting inside from the wing to used his favoured foot to score or assist, in his case left to right.

Watch: Gittens under the tactical microscope

Up ahead of him, Serhou Guirassy had scored 13 of his 38 goals in the first half of the season, but the league table didn’t lie. Die Schwarzgelben had made their worst start to a domestic campaign since Jürgen Klopp’s final one at the Signal Iduna Park, and while that vintage recovered to qualify for Europe, there was no guarantee the 2025 one would. 

Kovač upped the intensity behind the ball and made use of quick players like Gittens and Karim Adeyemi on the counter-attack, but after losing four of his first six Bundesliga games at the helm, a further change was required.

And so, Kovač started to employ a 3-4-2-1 system, something of a first for the Berlin-born former Croatia midfielder and manager, who had also used back fours in spells in charge at Eintracht Frankfurt, Monaco and Wolfsburg. 

Dortmund first lined up this way against Mainz in March, coming away with a 3-1 win in which Maximilan Beier scored a brace. The young Germany international started to partner Guirassy in attack, with Gittens and, to a lesser degree, Adeyemi sacrificed – but he wasn’t the only new introduction to what became the average line-up.

The aforementioned Svensson arrived on loan in February looking like he might act as an understudy to left-back Ramy Bensebaini. But the new formation allowed both to play at the same time. The Swede thrived up ahead of the Algerian, ending the season with two goals and four assists from 21 outings. Julian Ryerson was a more natural fit as a wing-back on the other side, and BVB’s menace from out wide now began earlier.

Underpinning the side for their undefeated run-in to the Bundesliga season was fit-again captain Emre Can, a nominal midfielder who thrived at the heart of a back three, while Felix Nmecha pushed ahead of Marcel Sabitzer in central midfield, and indeed back into Julian Nagelsmann’s Germany squad.

What does the above mean for Dortmund moving forward?

A clear shift to a 3-4-2-1 has been made. Dortmund also beat Barcelona in the Champions League with it during last season’s recovery, and Kovač used it without fail during June’s run to the FIFA Club World Cup quarter-finals. 

Guirassy continues to lead the line. Last season’s Champions League joint-top scorer remains one of the deadliest strikers in world football. But he increasingly had Adeyemi for company a the end of last season, especially in Europe – Adeyemi’s electric pace helping keep opponents on the back foot from a more central area.

Watch: All of Guirassy’s goals last season

With any two of Pascal Groß, Sabitzer and Nmecha trusted to pair up in central midfield, Bellingham has been given license to join if not orchestrate attacks from a No.10 position. His seven direct goal-involvements for Sunderland last year were complemented by an average of five progressive passes and three shot-creating actions per game. The addition of Chukwuemeka, he can play instead of or alongside him, should keep him on his toes.

At the back, there is a defensive injury crisis of late, with Can (groin), Nico Schlotterbeck (knee) and Niklas Süle (calf) all ruled out, but Dortmund have a happy habit of unearthing the next big thing, and those injuries could be just the chance 20-year-old Filippo Mané needs to shine.

They are also adept at identifiying the right players in the transfer market, and Kovač now has another centre-back to work with in the shape of Chelsea loanee Aarón Anselmino.

Kovač had already pulled BVB out of the doldrums, and now excitement can build and what he can mold them into over the coming two seasons.