Mateo Kovacic is a serial trophy winner and a man of many talents, as CITY MAGAZINE discovers…

Mateo Kovacic will sit down one day and look back on an incredible career.

The Croatian has pretty much done it all in football, but at only 30 years-old, he wants even more - in the colours of Manchester City.

His list of successes includes four Champions League wins, four domestic titles, four domestic cups, one Europa League, four UEFA Super Cups and three FIFA Club World Cups plus a Community Shield.

Throw in a World Cup runner-up medal and a third place finish with Croatia and you have 21 trophies won and participation in some of the biggest games on the planet – a serial winner, in short.

Not that you’d ever guess that.

Kovacic is a fierce competitor on the pitch, but away from it he is a humble, laidback family man who has brought a wealth of experience with him to Manchester City.

And the good news is he fully intends on expanding his sizeable collection of winner’s medals over the next few years.

The question is, where does he keep the medals he already has?

“Back in Croatia with my family,” Kovacic smiles.

 "They are taking care of them for me. One day, when I have a new home back there, I will keep them myself, but that will be in the future. When I finish playing, I think I will look back on everything that I have won and be happy, but right now I am just focusing on winning, being better every day and trying to win more with City - and that’s what I try to do.

“I want to win every competition I compete in, so there’s no one trophy in particular that I am hoping for.

“Being here at City means we are going to challenge for all the major honours – the Premier League and Champions League – but that said, I’ve lost three FA Cup finals so that would be nice to win!

“It’s so hard even to win the Community Shield and the Carabao Cup now, because there are many teams who want to win those competitions who haven’t won trophies for many years – it’s so tough, so it’s good that we appreciate everything we do win and have won.”

Last season, Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol became the second and third Croatians to win the Premier League, with only former Liverpool star Dejan Lovren lifting the crown prior to the City duo.

It was yet another slice of history for the midfielder who joined from Chelsea in 2023 – and was that a dream he’d had since being a youngster?

“I wouldn’t say a boyhood dream because I never thought I would play in England for some reason, but to win the toughest league in the world is amazing because it is so hard to win,” said ‘Kova’.

"It’s a big achievement for me as well because not many players from my country have won it before. It’s a massive trophy to win and I’m just happy we did it in my first season with the club."

Mateo’s relaxed, happy demeanour suggests life at City suits him perfectly.

His career has seen him have stints at Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Chelsea, so Milan, Madrid and London – three of the world’s most fashionable cities – are in contrast to Manchester life, which has, of course, become a highly desirable place to live itself over the past decade.

Kova, his wife and two young children opted for a leafy Cheshire suburb over city life – something he’d done with his previous clubs – and he admits it has been a refreshing change of scenery.

“It is different but very enjoyable,” he said.

“For the other cities we lived in, we stayed in the centre, so we were always going for dinner or whatever, whereas here it is more family-based and we spend a lot of time at home with our two kids and that means we can go out for walks and go to the nearby parks with them and it’s really nice and so is the countryside around us. Where we are, we love it – it’s amazing.

"I am very happy here. I feel the respect and love from the people for sure and from my first days in England, I have felt that. When I first arrived in Manchester, I felt very much at home because I think our supporters have the same way of thinking about football and I have a really good connection with them. I love everything about the club, and I am enjoying everything about being here. I hope we can have great memories together."

Mateo is recognised as a great team player, and given his experience and successes, does that make him one of the more vocal members of the team?

“Not really,” he smiles. “There are players who have been here longer who like to talk in the dressing room – I like to set examples in training, in the gym and by my work on the pitch - and also off it. Sometimes, obviously, you have to speak up, of course, and say something when it’s needed.

“I’m lucky because I can speak many languages. I never realised I had this hidden talent! I like to speak to some of my team-mates in their own language occasionally when we’re working in the gym, I have a good connection with them. I could speak with an English guy one moment, a German guy the next and then maybe in Spanish to another. I enjoy it and it’s nice to be fair.”

At the time of writing, City were in a bad run of form, unprecedented during Pep Guardiola’s era.

Whether the Blues find the sort of form needed to go on one of our long winning runs in the New Year remains to be seen - the win at Leicester was a welcome boost - but if qualification to the Champions League knockout rounds is secured, it’s worth remembering that plenty of teams have been crowned European champions who weren’t having the best run in their domestic league.

Kovacic was a member of the Chelsea side that won the competition against City in 2021, despite finishing 19 points behind the Blues in the Premier League. And Liverpool’s 2005 success against AC Milan came in a campaign where they finished 37 points behind champions Chelsea.

So, winning that competition is never easy, but the league form isn’t always mirrored by the eventual winners. Kova agrees that winning the Champions League is incredibly tough, but everything is possible.

“That’s absolutely true,” he says. “I always believe in hard work and if you do the things right, it pays off eventually. When I was younger, I didn’t like to look too far ahead – we are still only in the middle of the season with a long way to go and I don’t want to look too much towards the end of it now, but I think the most important thing is to be in three big competitions, which we are , and understand that bad moments happen in football and in life, so it’s on us to turn things around and lift ourselves as quickly as possible, because we can still have a great season. Nothing is lost yet and I’m very positive about everything.

“It's not easy when you are not winning, but that’s how football is. When you’re playing well you get praised, when you’re not doing so well, it’s different. The most important thing is to stay healthy for the rest of the season and get everyone fit and be together and then let’ s see what the season can bring us.

“ I’ve been watching City for many years now and this team is probably the only one that has never gone into a big crisis in that time. I think all our fans appreciate what we have achieved because it is amazing and what my team-mates have done over the years is incredible. Now is the time to show character, turn the page around and with the team we have and the club we have, that’s what we are going to try to do.”

Interview: David Clayton

We revisit our regular series that looks back on the career of a former City stalwart who gave their all and felt the love from our fans, even if they didn’t always attract the spotlight outside of east Manchester...

This January, we reflect on Superman himself: Stephen Ireland.

Half a decade on from the end of his career, a Stephen Ireland highlights reel would still capture the imagination of any football fan.

Prodigiously talented from the get go, Ireland had to overcome Osgood-Schlatter's disease in his mid-teens to make it as a professional.

Shining for Cobh Ramblers in his native County Cork as a 14-year-old at the turn of the century, the midfielder had plenty of attractive offers from England’s biggest clubs.

However, it was City he plumped for after praising the way the club looked after him off the pitch.

Signing in 2001, he spent four years progressing through our famed Academy before Stuart Peace added him to his first team plans at the start of the 2005/06 campaign.

At that point, it may be difficult for a young City player to admit publicly that they once had a poster of a Manchester United player on their wall but in Cork in those days, every youngster wanted to be Roy Keane.

However, he enamoured himself to City’s faithful with an interview in The Guardian shortly after breaking through.

"Everything has changed," he said.

"I wouldn't say I hate Manchester United now but I don't have any affection for them any longer. Growing up, there was the Roy Keane thing and it was ingrained on me to support them. But that's long gone now."

At a time when City were more workmanlike in our approach than you might expect now, Ireland immediately provided a bit of stardust that would get fans off their seats.

A tireless midfielder tasked with covering every blade of grass, Ireland was very much at his best on the ball in advanced areas.

However, there was some frustration when it came to getting to utilise his attacking talents in a team that prided itself on its defence.

Initially wearing No.38, he managed two assists in his first term, the most notable for Trevor Sinclair in an iconic Manchester derby victory in January 2006.

His first league goal didn’t come until Boxing Day that year, sealing a 1-0 win at Sheffield United now with the No.7 on his back.

The arrival of Sven-Goran Eriksson in the summer of 2007 brought more attacking promise through the addition of the likes of Elano and Martin Petrov.

That appeared to free Ireland up and give the midfielder more license to express himself.

This new attitude extended itself beyond his football, with the midfielder spawning the most iconic moment of his career after a second-half winner against Sunderland – dropping his shorts to reveal underpants in the style of Superman.

From that moment on, his every shining performance and goal contribution was greeted with the ‘Ireland is Superman’ chant that can still be heard when he’s spotted out in public.

‘Ireland is Superman’ was also taken as the name of a CITY+ documentary that got the perspective on his career from a host of names who saw his mercurial talent up close.

Far from a prolific scorer, Ireland backed up that Sunderland goal just a couple of weeks later with a stunning running volley to earn all three points against Reading.

Volleys had in fact become Ireland’s speciality, with most of his goals scored as the midfielder arrived late on the edge of the box.

If Eriksson’s one season in charge saw Ireland make a step up, the arrival of Mark Hughes the following summer would turn out to be his greatest inspiration.

Hughes came alongside HH Sheikh Mansour’s takeover of the club and therefore a huge increase in our spending power.

Ireland responded to that increased competition for places with the best season of his career, ultimately earning him the Player of the Year award.

13 goals and 13 assists turned the midfielder into a terrifying prospect for defenders, with Ireland now capable of scoring in all manners and drawing comparisons with some of the great box-to-box operators in our history.

He remained pretty much first name on the team-sheet under Hughes until the Welshman left the club in December 2009.

Roberto Mancini’s appointment proved tough for Ireland, with the 23-year-old struggling for gametime in the second half of the 2009/10 campaign.

The summer arrived and Ireland moved to Aston Villa, with Mancini desperate to recruit James Milner from the Midlands side.

It was a good move in the end as Milner contributed to FA Cup and Premier League successes in the coming seasons, but it was a wrench for City fans to see our talented Academy product head for pastures new.

He would struggle to replicate those special couple of years under Eriksson and Hughes for the remainder of his career, stopping off at Stoke City and Newcastle United before retiring.

Ireland’s 175 City appearances came in a very transitional period for the club, as we moved from a mid-table staple to trophy chasers.

And if you ask fans who springs to mind from that time of great anticipation, you wouldn’t have to wait long before Ireland’s name was remembered fondly.

Feature: Jack Mumford

This season I’m taking you on an A-to-Z tour of Manchester and possibly taking a few liberties with the alphabet. Expect lots of musicians, an occasional session with a footballer and whatever else I can find in my archive.

This issue we’re up to the letter Q and I’ll bet some of you didn’t know that Super Blue Mike Pickering was in a band called Quando Quango before hitting the big time with M People.

QQ were hugely influential in Chicago and New York clubland. Their first record, Go Exciting was released on Factory in 1982 but their biggest hit, Love Tempo, reached number 4 on the US Billboard Dance charts.

The band were made up of Mike, Simon Topping from ACR, Hillegonda Rietveld, and Derek Johnson and later his brother Barry. 

In 1985 Quando had a single called Genius, and Guinness were advertising with just the word Genius and their logo. It seemed too good an opportunity to miss, so we went to the ad board in Castlefield, and Mike painted the catalogue number: FAC 137 and Quando on the board. Someone obviously noticed us, because just as we finished, HM constabulary turned up and were all for arresting us for criminal damage. Luckily, I had my trusty NUJ card with me, and I told them it was a stunt for a paper, and we intended to paint over it in black when we finished. The two constables were sceptical at first, but we did have the black paint with us, so they reluctantly agreed to let us off with a warning. The policewoman stood watching as Mike had to repaint the board. If anything, it looked worse, but she seemed happy enough. She ever agreed to have her photo taken with the band.

The band finally split up in 1986 and Mike and Simon formed another short-lived dance band: T-Coy, who were also great. But it wouldn’t be long before Mike moved on to form M People, and the rest is history…