The wait is over: Eta’s arrival as head coach breaks barriers for women in football

For Marie-Louise Eta, it may feel like another day at the office. The wider significance will be greater, though, when she oversees Union Berlin in their crunch Bundesliga match against Wolfsburg this weekend. History will be made and another barrier broken: it will be the first time a woman appointed as head coach of a men’s team has taken charge of a fixture in one of Europe’s top five leagues.

Eta was given the reins on an interim basis after Steffen Baumgart, her predecessor, was sacked on Saturday. Union had just lost 3-1 to bottom-placed Heidenheim and, with five games left, could not be sure of a late-season dalliance with the drop zone. They are seven points clear of the relegation playoff spot but a run of two wins from 14 games has equated to freefall. Union needed the best person to arrest it, some form of continuity was key, so the 34-year-old Eta, a richly exciting prospect, was an obvious choice.

It is a groundbreaking move and no surprise that Union, a model of progress during their rise in recent years, are the club making fresh strides. But it is also little shock that Eta fitted the bill. She has already taken sole charge of the men’s team, guiding Union to a win, draw and defeat early in 2024 when the then-head coach, Nenad Bjelica, was suspended. At that point she was working as one of Bjelica’s assistants, the first woman to occupy such a role in Bundesliga history. Eta, well regarded from her time coaching the men’s under-19s, is making the next step in an inevitable progression.

In an interview three years ago, Eta said she hoped to “convince with quality and substance” rather than benefit from any tokenism. None has been granted here to a coach whose under-19s side were feted for their ambitious approach. Those who have witnessed Eta’s work first-hand speak of a natural energy and presence. Those qualities, alongside tactical acumen, will be needed in heaving Union out of their slump.

Eta became the first woman to work as an assistant manager in the Bundesliga in 2023-24. Photograph: Annegret Hilse/Reuters

Her promotion did not escape the attention of Sarina Wiegman, who paid tribute on Monday in her pre-match press conference for England women’s game against Spain. “It’s great,” Wiegman said. “She’s a trailblazer. I think this was a matter of time anyway. It’s exciting, it shows that, again, football is moving up. There are women in society everywhere and the next step is that it’s also in football, male and female.”

Wiegman was looking ahead to a day when football is blind to the sex or gender of those helming its teams. Numerous men have successfully coached women’s sides and there is every reason for the reverse to become commonplace. Germany has been quicker on the uptake than most: Sabrina Wittmann, head coach of the third-tier club FC Ingolstadt, is on course to celebrate her second anniversary in the job this June.

In France the former national team coach, Corinne Diacre, managed Ligue 2 side Clermont Foot between 2014 and 2017. Meanwhile a woman is yet to lead a professional men’s team in a competitive fixture in England. Hannah Dingley, now girls’ head of academy at Manchester City, had a brief spell as caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers before the 2023-24 season.

Eta’s own spell in the men’s hot seat is almost certain to be short-lived, on this occasion at least. She signed a deal to become head coach of the Union women’s team, currently mid-table in the Frauen Bundesliga, when Baumgart was sacked and is expected to assume that role next season. Nonetheless, for all the emphasis on business as usual, there is deep symbolism in her being entrusted with the men’s survival bid: over the next month aspiring female coaches worldwide can switch on one of theworld’s biggest leagues and see a once unthinkable ambition made real.

Eta has agreed to become head coach of Union Berlin’s women’s team next season. Photograph: Annegret Hilse/Reuters

Amid the wave of support for Eta, there have been the usual fires to fight. Online trolling should never come with the territory but, with depressing predictability, a small minority of responses to Eta’s new role have hailed straight from the stone age. Union’s X account has stood up for her vigorously, dishing out numerous spicy retorts to some of the more outdated posts. “But that’s exactly what you are, a sexist,” it told one user who had said it would be “embarrassing” for any other Bundesliga coach to lose against Eta while claiming not to be sexist. Union hailed her a “football goddess”, tweaking its usual salutation for male players and coaches.

The sight of Eta, a Champions League winner with Turbine Potsdam during her playing career, roaming the technical area on Saturday will further expose those attitudes for what they are. She spoke last year of the delight “when you receive messages from young women or girls whom you’ve been able to inspire and motivate”. An instant impact with Union’s men will further suggest those talents are wide-reaching but, regardless of their fate, Eta has pushed football in an overdue new direction through talent and application alone.