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New head coach of German Bundesliga soccer club 1. FC Union Berlin Marie-Louise Eta looks on during the warm up prior to the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Union Berlin and Wolfsburg in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, April 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Noroozi\/AP<\/p>\n
New head coach of German Bundesliga soccer club 1. FC Union Berlin Marie-Louise Eta looks on during the warm up prior to the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Union Berlin and Wolfsburg in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, April 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Noroozi\/AP<\/p>\n
New head coach of German Bundesliga soccer club 1. FC Union Berlin Marie-Louise Eta reacts during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Union Berlin and Wolfsburg in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, April 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Noroozi\/AP<\/p>\n
New head coach of German Bundesliga soccer club 1. FC Union Berlin Marie-Louise Eta reacts during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Union Berlin and Wolfsburg in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, April 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Noroozi\/AP<\/p>\n
New head coach of German Bundesliga soccer club 1. FC Union Berlin Marie-Louise Eta looks on during the warm up prior to the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Union Berlin and Wolfsburg in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, April 18, 2026.<\/p>\n
Ebrahim Noroozi\/AP<\/p>\n
BERLIN (AP) \u2014 Marie-Louise Eta was in little mood for celebrating after making her debut as the first female coach in the Bundesliga on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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Eta was feted by the Union Berlin fans before the game, but the team was unable to live up to the sense of occasion as it slumped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Wolfsburg, which was previously winless in 12 games.<\/p>\n
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Eta had spoken before the match of just wanting to get on with the job, deflecting attention from her own barrier-breaking achievements, and focusing instead on her task of securing Bundesliga survival for Union.<\/p>\n
She was appointed as interim coach with five games to go before the end of the season. Now it\u2019s four, and Union is a point closer to the relegation zone, just six points away, despite dominating toward the end against Wolfsburg.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, of course I\u2019m disappointed that we lost this game. But I\u2019m very happy with how we approached it today, with the lads\u2019 performance,” Eta said. “We talked about a lot of things this week. We also saw the lads training with good energy, with great conviction, and we implemented the plan we\u2019d developed over the past few days very well today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her team missed a host of good chances, with Wolfsburg goalkeeper Kamil Grabara proving to be the decisive figure, while lapses at the back allowed Patrick Wimmer and D\u017eenan Pej\u010dinovi\u0107 to score early in each half for the visitors.<\/p>\n
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\u201cToday it was simply about focusing on the essentials. In the end, it was about football, and I was really looking forward to playing this Bundesliga match here,” Eta said. “Ultimately, it\u2019s bitter and disappointing that we\u2019re leaving here without any points.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old Eta became the first female coach across the top divisions of the \u201cbig five\u201d European leagues in men\u2019s soccer, but she didn\u2019t dwell at all on her achievement.<\/p>\n
\u2018Football-goddess\u2019 <\/p>\n
Before the game, Union fans greeted each player\u2019s name during the lineup announcement with a roar of \u201cFussballgott!\u201d (football-god), and there were cheers and applause when it came to announcing the coach\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFussballgottin!\u201d the fans roared \u2014 football-goddess.<\/p>\n
Eta previously became the first female assistant coach in the men\u2019s Bundesliga in 2023, also at Union, and had been coaching the under-19 men\u2019s team at the club, where she\u2019s affectionately known as Louie.<\/p>\n
She made four changes to the team that lost at bottom side Heidenheim the weekend before, bringing back Union veteran Christopher Trimmel.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Louie, of course it\u2019s difficult to impose all the new things in just three or four days so everything can be implemented immediately. That\u2019s perfectly understandable. It would have been difficult for any coach, and yet we still managed to execute a solid match plan well. A lot of things worked out,\u201d Trimmel said. \u201cI\u2019m staying positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Union next faces Champions League-chasing Leipzig away, then relegation-rival Cologne at home. It will face former coach Urs Fischer \u2013 who led the team to promotion in 2019 \u2013 at Mainz, before ending the season at home against Augsburg on May 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe clicked quickly,\u201d Union defender Derrick K\u00f6hn of Eta\u2019s impact as head coach. \u201cShe shared her game plan with us, and we implemented what she gave us. There\u2019s not too much new, so we feel very, very comfortable with her. We tried, especially today, to give her the win as a present, but unfortunately, we didn\u2019t succeed. As I said, we\u2019ll move on. We\u2019ll try to analyze this and then prepare for Leipzig and try to give her her present there.\u201d<\/p>\n
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