[1] Kovac was born in Osijek, Croatia, back then part of SFR Yugoslavia, and emigrated in 1956 with his Hungarian father and Croatian mother to Belgium.
So, he played for ten years as a semi-professional player as central defender, working meanwhile as an English and Dutch teacher.
He very quickly climbed the ladder at the Belgian Football Federation and became supervisor of the UEFA courses in all the southern part of Belgium and in the capital city, Brussels.
Meanwhile, Kovac refused a proposal from LOSC (France) and started negotiations with Standard under impulse of Preudhomme who wanted to get his services.
In 2004, Kovac accepted a new challenge: Marc Wilmots asked him to work with the first team in the famous club Saint Trond.
Until December 2009 when the mythical Brussels club Union St. Gilloise asked him to rescue the team that was on the last position with 17 points after a long series of seven defeats at a stretch.
[3] Kovac accepted the challenge carried out his task successfully: with 13 matches without defeat, his team finished with 42 points in May 2010.