Union Berlin make history: Bundesliga’s first female head coach appointed

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 12 Apr 2026 08:49 BST
• 4 min read

News

Union Berlin have become the first Bundesliga club in history to appoint a female head coach, with Marie-Louise Eta having been handed the reins at the club.

She takes charge of the side following the departure of Steffen Baumgart on Saturday after he watched the capital club get sucked further into the relegation battle following a 3-1 away loss to Heidenheim.

Eta, who was previously in charge of the club’s U19 side and will take command of the women’s professional team in the future, has been appointed to the role on a temporary basis until the end of the season in a history-making move.

Eta ‘convinced’ she can lead Union to safety

Eta takes charge of Union at a delicate time. There are five Bundesliga matches remaining this season for her side, which lies seven points clear of the relegation playoff spot.

“I'm delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging responsibility. A strength of Union has always been, and continues to be, to pull all our forces together in such situations. And of course, I'm convinced that with the team, we'll secure the crucial points,” she said after being given the post.

“We have had a hugely disappointing second half of the season so far and will not allow ourselves to be blinded by our league position,” Union’s director of men’s professional football, Horst Heldt, explained in an official statement. “Our situation remains precarious and we urgently need points to secure our place in the league. Two wins from fourteen matches since the winter break and the performances shown in recent weeks do not give us the confidence that we can still turn things around with the current set-up. We have therefore decided to make a fresh start.

“I am delighted that Marie Louise Eta has agreed to take on this role on an interim basis before becoming head coach of the women’s professional team in the summer as planned.”

A surprise chance

Her opportunity is unexpected as Baumgart’s exit came as a surprise. There had been no suggestion that he was about to leave the club, despite a lamentable two wins from 14 games in 2026 and a particularly poor display against the Bundesliga’s bottom side on Saturday.

“We totally failed to execute as we needed to,” Baumgart admitted. “We couldn’t compete against Heidenheim on an equal footing. We did absolutely nothing to be successful here today. Very disappointing.”

On top of this, Union’s Scotland international striker Oliver Burke reacted angrily to being replaced after 62 minutes.

Eta makes history with Union role

Eta becomes the first female manager to lead a men’s team in one of Europe’s Big 5 leagues.

As such, all eyes will be on Union’s fixture at home to Wolfsburg next Saturday, which will be a historic occasion as she steps into the dugout for the first time.

Previously, Corinne Diacre had taken charge of a men’s professional team across one of Europe’s five main footballing superpowers – England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France – as she spent more than three seasons as head coach of Clermont Foot, but this was always in France’s second tier.

Expert opinion: Eta's appointment no PR stunt

Bundesliga expert Ronan Murphy told FootballTransfers: "The Bundesliga was always going to be the most likely top-level league to appoint a female manager to a men's team, particularly after Sabrina Wittmann broke the glass ceiling in Germany's professional leagues, becoming head coach of 3. Liga side Ingolstadt in 2024. After a successful interim spell, she became permanent head coach and is now more than just another third-tier boss, but rather a benchmark and a promotional asset for German football. Just last month, international media met and sat down with Wittmann, with extensive features written about her groundbreaking achievements in some of publishing's biggest names.

"'I’ll always be the first woman in Germany coaching a professional men’s team, but I want to be seen as a coach,' Wittmann said in those interviews. Little did she know that one of her peers would be managing a Bundesliga team just five weeks later. German clubs have always given opportunities to less experienced coaches, such as Julian Nagelsmann being appointed Hoffenheim head coach at 28. A decade later, he's guiding Germany to the World Cup where there are calls for him to bring back Manuel Neuer to the fold, despite the goalkeeper being a couple of years his senior.

"The appointments of Wittmann and Marie-Louise Eta are not just for publicity or attention. These are highly-regarded coaches in a system that focuses extensively on training and development, and their gender is just a footnote compared to their abilities. Women coaches in German football are nothing new. They've been training them for decades. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany international Doreen Meier did her coaching training in Cologne alongside Thomas Tuchel, who is also bringing a national team to the World Cup.

"East Germany may have had many faults, but the promotion of women in the workplace was a key aspect of the country's policies. So it is probably not surprising that a team from the former East has become the first major club to appoint a female head coach. Eta has already seen everything at Union Berlin, even working as an assistant to the men's team in the Champions League and stepped in as temporary coach two years ago when Union's boss was serving a touchline ban. She is due to take charge of the club's women's team at the end of the season, but if the next few weeks go well, it would not be a surprise to see her follow Wittmann's lead and become the permanent head coach of a men's team."