{"id":4096,"date":"2026-04-13T06:16:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:16:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/4096\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T06:16:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T06:16:54","slug":"union-berlin-break-from-tradition-and-appoints-first-female-manager-marie-louise-eta-in-historic-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/4096\/","title":{"rendered":"Union Berlin break from tradition and appoints first female manager Marie-Louise Eta in historic move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Union Berlin have written themselves into the history books by naming Marie-Louise Eta as their interim head coach.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old becomes the first woman ever to take charge of a men’s side in one of Europe’s elite divisions.<\/p>\n

The German club confirmed the groundbreaking appointment on Saturday evening, handing Eta responsibility for steering the team through their remaining Bundesliga fixtures.<\/p>\n

Her promotion represents a watershed moment for football across the continent’s top five leagues, which encompass the Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga.<\/p>\n

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano described the move as a “historic decision” that could open doors for female coaches throughout the men’s game.<\/p>\n

The managerial shake-up followed a damaging 3-1 loss to bottom-placed Heidenheim on Saturday, a result that proved fatal to Steffen Baumgart’s tenure.<\/p>\n

Union’s hierarchy acted swiftly, dismissing Baumgart along with his assistants, Danilo de Souza and Kevin McKenna, as part of a complete overhaul of the coaching setup.<\/p>\n

The defeat capped a wretched run of form.<\/p>\n

\"Marie-Louise<\/p>\n

Union Berlin have written themselves into the history books by naming Marie-Louise Eta as their interim head coach<\/p>\n

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The Berlin outfit has claimed just two victories from 14 outings since the winter break.<\/p>\n

Despite sitting in 11th position, Union remain only seven points above the relegation play-off place with five matches left to play this season.<\/p>\n

Eta steps into the role after previously serving as head coach of Union’s under-19 squad, a position she was elevated to following Baumgart’s departure.<\/p>\n

The German made history back in November 2023 when she became the first woman to hold an assistant coaching position in the Bundesliga, working alongside Marco Grote.<\/p>\n

\"Marie-Louise<\/p>\n

Once her interim stint concludes, Eta will transition to her planned role as the head coach of Union Berlin’s women’s professional team from the summer onwards<\/p>\n

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Her experience at the top level extends further.<\/p>\n

She had temporarily taken charge of first-team duties during a three-match suspension served by then-manager Nenad Bjelica in 2024.<\/p>\n

Once her interim stint concludes, Eta will transition to her planned role as the head coach of Union Berlin’s women’s professional team from the summer onwards.<\/p>\n

Eta acknowledged the precarious nature of Union’s position.<\/p>\n

\"Marie-Louise<\/p>\n

Eta’s first match at the helm comes against relegation-threatened Wolfsburg on April 18 at the Stadion An der Alten F\u00f6rsterei<\/p>\n

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She said: “Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure. I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task.<\/p>\n

“One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations. And, of course, I am convinced that we will secure the crucial points with the team.”<\/p>\n

Director of football Horst Heldt admitted the club’s situation “remains precarious” and that recent performances had eroded confidence in the previous setup.<\/p>\n

Eta’s first match at the helm comes against relegation-threatened Wolfsburg on April 18 at the Stadion An der Alten F\u00f6rsterei.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Union Berlin have written themselves into the history books by naming Marie-Louise Eta as their interim head coach.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18,149,42,1952,97],"class_list":["post-4096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-berlin","tag-football","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}