First in the Berlin Oberliga and after 1990 in the Oberliga North East. He signed for FC Nürnberg in 1995. In the second division, the defender is unable to prevent the team being relegated to the third tier but he does catch the attention of a range of Bundesliga scouts in 33 appearances. At the age of 22, he joined the Werkself along with his brother Niko who came from Hertha Berlin. In his first season under coach Christoph Daum he was not a regular first choice but then he broke through and ended up playing 162 games for the Werkself.
In 2001, the international player, who gained 84 caps for Croatia and took part in two World Cups (2002 and 2006) and two European Championships (2004 and 2008), signed for Bayern Munich. In the next four years at Bayern he won the Bundesliga title twice, the DFB Pokal twice and the World Club Cup in 2001.
His next club for two years was the top Italian side Juventus although, after Robert's first season, they were demoted due to a match fixing scandal. He stayed in Turin and regained top-flight status with the Old Lady. In 2007 he returned to the Bundesliga to play for Borussia Dortmund. He ended his playing career in the winter of 2010 for the Croat serial champions Dynamo Zagreb where he won two titles. Robert hung up his boots after that season.
As assistant coach to his brother Niko he worked with the Croatia team from 2013 and later for Eintracht Frankfurt, Bayern Munich and AS Monaco. The Kovac brothers are currently at VfL Wolfsburg.
Dear Robert, many happy returns on your 50th. Have a great time and stay fit and healthy!
Bayer 04 started the new season on 20 July 1950. To the applause from almost 2,000 spectators, the Werkself stepped onto the pitch at the Am Stadtpark stadium and the season target was clear to the supporters: finally achieve promotion to the Oberliga West. Under the direction of new coach Raymond Schwab, who brought one of his Essen players with him in the shape of Karl-Heinz Spikofski, the team did a couple of laps. Coach Schwab gave a speech in front of all the fans where he clearly imparted his request for calm in the stands and he said he hated nothing more than heckling or laughing when mistakes are made. He hoped the Bayer 04 supporters would follow his advice.
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Horst Knauf was born in Cologne on 16 August 1960. As a teenager he played for PSV Köln before signing for the Bayer 04 Leverkusen U19s as a talented midfielder in 1976. He made the move up from the second team to the Bundesliga squad in 1980. Over the following three years he played 39 Bundesliga games and scored two goals. Above all in the difficult 1981/82 season for the Werkself with the play-off games against Kickers Offenbach, he played a big part in saving Bayer 04 with 21 appearances. But under the new coach Dettmar Cramer he rarely made a start and he decided to move on.
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Holger Aden was born in Hamburg on 25 August 1965. He learned all about playing football and, above all, scoring goals at the two Hamburg clubs Niendorfer TSV and TSV DuWo 08 Hamburg. After progression from the youth teams, he played for other Hamburg clubs. One after the other he appeared for Concordia Hamburg, Altona 93 and SC Norderstedt. The centre-forward regularly found the back of the opposition net. He scored 22 goals for SC Norderstedt in the 1988/89 season.
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Michael Ballack was born in Görlitz in the GDR on 26 September 1976. He displayed his talent for football at a young age. After his family moved to Karl-Marx-Stadt, now called Chemnitz, he started playing for BSG Motor ‘Fritz Heckert’ Karl-Marx-Stadt where he constantly continued to develop his ability on the pitch. From year seven he went to the children and youth sports college and there he received systematic support in sport that led, against the background of his increasing ability, to a move to FC Karl-Marx-Stadt. At the age of 16, he had to take a six-month break due to growing pains, but then there was no stopping Michael after that.
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In this video you can watch impressive and important goals in the history of Bayer 04 in the month of August. It is not always about the beauty of the goals but also about remembering special games and players.
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