Niko Kovac fights back tears live on air after learning of Peter Hermann’s death

Niko Kovac fought back tears and ended a television interview after being told live on air that his close friend and former assistant Peter Hermann had died.

The Borussia Dortmund manager, 54, had been speaking to Sky Sport Germany after his side’s 1-0 victory over Stuttgart when presenter Sebastian Hellmann received the news and informed Kovac and the studio analysts Lothar Matthaus and Julia Simic.

The announcement visibly affected Kovac, who struggled to contain his emotions as he spoke about Hermann’s death.

“This is making it a little hard for me to breathe,” Kovac said. “A month or two ago I was still trying to speak to him, but that is no longer possible at all. Sadly, his illness was incurable. I am deeply saddened. We have lost a good person.”

Kovac added that when he had tried to contact his long-time friend earlier, Hermann’s daughter had answered the call.

Hermann died aged 74 following a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disease.

He worked as Jupp Heynckes’ assistant manager when Bayern Munich won their first treble in 2013. Hermann returned to Bayern Munich when Heynckes came back in 2017 and remained at the club for another year after Kovac took charge.

Hermann served as an assistant manager in more than 1,000 matches for a number of clubs, including Schalke, Hamburg, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund.

After his appearance on Sky, Kovac cancelled a further media engagement on ZDF’s Aktuelles Sportstudio because of the emotional impact of the news. Presenter Katrin Muller-Hohenstein confirmed the decision on Saturday evening.

Kovac also became tearful during his post-match news conference, where he paid tribute to Hermann alongside his brother.

“My brother and I send our deepest condolences to Peter’s family,” he said. “We have lost a great man. Not only as an assistant manager in Munich, but also as an assistant manager when I was still a player at Leverkusen. It is a real shock.”