Bundesliga: BVB coach Kovac only has one cell phone rule for his players

Otherwise, the coach has no restrictions regarding the use of cell phones. “The boys are walking around on the bus with their cell phones, listening to their music. I can’t control whether it’s music or whether it’s some other thing. I don’t want that either. The boys are grown up enough and can assess what they need to tackle the game,” emphasized the 55-year-old.

BVB rewards fans for not using cell phones in the stadium

Meanwhile, BVB wants to encourage its fans to leave their smartphones in their pockets more often when visiting the stadium. For this purpose, the club is introducing a so-called “Fan Mode” in its app from the game against Frankfurt. If this is activated, fans collect points for every minute without cell phone use. The participants with the highest scores can win prizes such as signed BVB jerseys and vouchers for the fan shop.

Kovac welcomes the idea and at the same time expressed criticism of general cell phone consumption. “I think we could all do less looking at our cell phones at times. We all get caught up,” said the coach. That also applies to himself. “If we could reduce it, we could concentrate a little on other things, on the man next to him, on the woman next to him,” said Kovac.