Former player makes serious allegations against BVB manager Kovac

Regäsel Kovac

Yanni Regäsel, who was a professional player for Eintracht Frankfurt between 2016 and 2018, has delivered a scathing critique of his former manager, Niko Kovac.

"Everything was fine at the start," recalled Regäsel, now 30 and plying his trade for fifth-tier SV Wilhelmshaven in the Oberliga Niedersachsen, during a YouTube interview with former Hertha and DFB youth teammate Bilal Kamarieh. Yet, under Kovac, he claimed, "out of the blue, I was no longer in the picture".

For Regäsel, who played six of his eleven competitive matches for Eintracht Frankfurt under the current BVB manager, the relationship soured ahead of the 2017 cup final against Dortmund. The turning point was an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau in which Regäsel complained about his limited game time under Kovac.

"The newspaper called me and asked why I wasn't playing under Kovac," Regäsel explained. "I just said, 'I don't understand it, I'm performing well and I want to play.'" Yet he insists that the FR misrepresented his words.

"So what does the paper do? They twist my words. They should have checked before publishing, but they didn't," he said. "Next thing I see is a huge headline: 'Regäsel lashes out at Kovac ahead of DFB Cup final'. My phone blew up."

FC Bayern München v Borussia Dortmund - Bundesliga

Yanni Regäsel has delivered a scathing critique of Niko Kovac.

Explosive: The FR article—still available today—opens by noting that Regäsel, then 21, was explicitly told by Frankfurt's press officer to mark certain comments as off the record. "Nah, nah. No problem, you can write down everything I say. I'm an honest bloke," the defender replied.

Manager Fredi Bobic and Eintracht president Peter Fischer soon arrived at training, confronted Regäsel and insisted he apologise to Kovac. "I said sorry and explained that I hadn't said it the way they'd written it," Regäsel recalled today.

Kovac reportedly took it in stride, replying, "It's all right, I know you Berliners have a big mouth." Regäsel adds, "I thought he was handling it fine, but then I wasn't even included in the squad for the cup final." Frankfurt went on to lose the match 1–2.

"In my private life, I knew people who knew him"

Regäsel claims he was barred from training with the first team the following season. "They told me, 'Stay at home. Don't even come to the training ground,'" he explained. "I was confused; I hadn't done anything wrong."

Regäsel later confronted Kovac in the dugout. "He told me, 'Yanni, you're the best player I've got, but I don't like you. You won't play for me,'" Regäsel recalled. When Kamarieh asked if those words were really spoken, Regäsel insisted, "I swear, that's exactly what he said. I'll never forget it."

Regäsel now believes he was sidelined because, in his private life, he knew people who were also acquainted with Kovac. "I think he didn't like that I got on well with those people," he concluded.

Yanni Regäsel

Regäsel on Kovac: "I would have beaten him to a pulp."

"They were very good, very influential men in Frankfurt," Regäsel explained. "I got on well with them. They had a say in everything – no matter the department. You knew that if you spoke to them, they'd sort everything out for you."

One day, despite the ban, Regäsel turned up at the training ground for a solo session. He described his state of mind in stark terms: "At some point I realised I was going to snap. And before that happened – honestly, I would have beaten him to a pulp."

Regäsel ultimately passed harsh judgement on the 54-year-old Croatian. "He didn't just do it to me. Over time, he kicked out football god Alex Meier because he's the sort of person who wants to present himself as the most outrageous of them all," said Regäsel. "He always wants to be the centre of attention. Later he drove Max Kruse away too. He always targeted players with influence in the dressing room; he didn't want them around because he wanted to be the only one in charge. That's the kind of person he is."