BERLIN: Bundesliga club Union Berlin on Sunday (Apr 12) named Marie-Louise Eta as head coach, making her the first female manager of a men’s team in a top-five European league, after former mentor Steffen Baumgart was sacked.
The 34-year-old will take over for the remainder of the season.
“I am delighted the club has entrusted me with this challenging task,” Eta said in a statement.
“One of Union’s strengths has always been our ability to pull together in such situations. And of course, I’m convinced that we’ll get the points we need with this team.”
Eta became the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history when she was promoted to the role in 2023.
Never before has a men’s top-flight club in Germany, England, Spain, Italy or France – considered the top-five European leagues – appointed a woman in the head coach role.
Eta’s first match in the dugout is on Saturday when Union host struggling Wolfsburg.
Baumgart was sacked early on Sunday morning after the club’s form flatlined in the second-half of the season, with Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at last-placed Heidenheim the final straw.
A fan favourite who spent two seasons at the club as a player, Baumgart took over as coach at the beginning of 2025 and helped Union stay in the Bundesliga with a 13th-placed finish.
The coach took Union close to the European spots at the end of 2025 but the club have won just two games since Christmas and sit seven points above the relegation play-off spot with five games to play.
“We’ve had an absolutely disappointing second-half of the season,” sporting director Horst Held said in a statement.
“Our situation remains precarious and we desperately need points to stay in the league.
“The performances in recent weeks don’t give us the confidence we could turn things around with the current set-up.”
As a player, Eta won the women’s Champions League in 2010 with Turbine Potsdam – she was an unused substitute in the final against Lyon – along with three Bundesliga titles.
She retired at the age of 26 to start coaching, first with Werder Bremen youth teams before taking on a similar role at the German FA (DFB).
She has already committed to take over Union Berlin’s women’s Bundesliga team, who are playing their first season in the top-flight this campaign, from summer.
Women have managed men’s football teams in the lower divisions but never in the top flight.
German third tier Ingolstadt FC are currently coached by Sabrina Wittmann, who became the first female coach of a professional men’s team when appointed to the position in 2024.
French second-flight club Clermont were managed by Corinne Diacre for three seasons until 2017, until she left to take over the French women’s national team.