Marie-Louise Eta becomes First Female Bundesliga Head Coach

• Landmark achievement: Marie-Louise Eta becomes the first female manager of a male team in one of Europe’s premier five football leagues.
• Temporary managerial post at Union Berlin: She acts as an interim manager during a tough time for the team.
• Union Berlin is placed 11th in the Bundesliga table, recording only two victories out of 14 matches played in 2026 but secure in their spot with 11 points ahead of relegation.

Marie-Louise Eta will take over as the interim manager of Bundesliga club, Union Berlin. With this appointment, she will be the first female to manage a men's team in one of the five biggest leagues in Europe.

Union Berlin is currently 11th in the 18-team Bundesliga, but with only five games remaining this season and a comfortable 11-point cushion from the automatic relegation zone, they have had a terrible run of 2 wins in 14 league games in 2026.

Eta is 34 years old and has a history of breaking through barriers as she became the first female assistant coach in the Bundesliga in November 2023 when she served as an assistant to Nenad Bjelica during a three-match ban but still assisted him during his absence by coaching the team from the sideline for a win over Darmstadt in January 2024.

ETA has been the Youth Manager since July 2025 and has previously played for Germany in the Under-20s and won the Women's UEFA Champions League with Turbine Potsdam. She will become the Head Coach of the Women's Team at Union Berlin, effective this summer.

"We have had a hugely disappointing second half of the season and will not allow ourselves to be blinded by our league position," said Horst Heldt, Union's director of men's football.

"Our situation continues to be highly unstable; in addition, we are not confident in our ability to turn it around based on recent performances under our current structure. Therefore, we are going to create a new beginning."

"Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure," she said.

"I am delighted the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union's strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.

"I am convinced that we will secure the crucial points."

Jacob Sweetman, a spokesman for Union Berlin, says the support on social media for Eta's appointment has been enormous following the announcement on Saturday evening.

"I have to say, in my best part of 20 years with this club, I am not sure I have ever seen such unanimous support for a new coach coming in," he said.

"This is only on an interim basis of course but certainly from within the club itself and the fanbase, everybody is very happy with this decision.

After 25 years since Carolina Morace was appointed as the first female manager of a men's professional team in Europe, Eta has now been appointed. Likewise, Corinne Diacre was the manager of Clermont Foot for 3 years from 2014-2017 before leaving to serve as the head coach of the France women's national team.

In July 2023, Hannah Dingley also made history by being the first female manager of a men's professional football club in England when she was appointed as caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers; however, she did not actually manage the team in any matches at that point.