Mario Kovačević turned down a life contract for Slaven: ‘I couldn’t let the people in the club down’

Famous Belupo was nailed to the bottom of the HNL after the first six rounds with only one point won. Ivan Radeljić he was fired, and sat on the bench Mario Kovačević. And he turned them into a team that plays one of the most beautiful football in the league and the most important, it finally shows in the results.

Mario Kovačevi, who returned to the coaching job after defeating lung cancer, managed to lift the Koprivnica first league team in just a few games and prove to everyone that he is one of the best coaches in the HNL. A good voice can be heard far and wide, and it echoed all the way to Saudi Arabia, where the second division Al-Faisalythe former club of Zlatko Dali, offered the coach of Slaven a lifetime contract. It meant ensuring existence and a more comfortable life, which tickled him, but for Kovaev the word is shrine. And he gave it to the leaders of the Koprivnica club, who gave him a chance when nobody wanted and couldn’t leave them in the lurch in the middle of the season.

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Photo: Vjeran Zganec Rogulja/PIXSELL

Everyone at the club was delighted by this, so they offered him a new, improved contract that binds him until 2027.

– I’m glad I stayed. I had an offer from outside, it was ‘take it or leave it’ and I could secure my life, but I could not let down the club and the people who helped me and gave me a chance when it was most difficult for me. I would have been sorry for the players if I had left, because I want to finish what we started with them, so I didn’t even think much when the people from the club offered me a new contract. I thank them for that, I think we are on the right path to be even better and I am sure that Slaven Belupo čeven better days await – said Kovačević.

Photo: Slavan Belupo

Ever since he came to the league as Varaždin’s coach, he has delighted many because of his attractive playing style, but especially because of his human virtues. Kovačević came to Slaven in September and reborn the club in a short period of time. He collected five wins, four draws and four losses, which separated them from the bottom and even brought them closer to fourth-placed Osijek, only minus six.

Even director Vedran Bači did not hide his enthusiasm for Kovačević’s remains.

– Our wish is to keep at least the sixth position, if possible and attack those above us, and Mario Kova’s performance. he is the ideal person for that, but also what awaits us in the coming seasons. Since he came to the club, he very quickly found a common language with the locker room, and this symbiosis of coach and professional coach on the one hand and players on the other, was best seen on the pitch. We are happy and satisfied that we have established cooperation with the coach and we believe that a beautiful future awaits us all together.