Who is Marie-Louise Eta, Union Berlin’s new interim head coach and the first woman to lead a men’s Bundesliga team?

Who is Marie-Louise Eta, Union Berlin’s new interim head coach and the first woman to lead a men’s Bundesliga team?

1. Union Berlin coach Steffen Baumgart was relieved of his duties late on Saturday following a disappointing 3-1 defeat to bottom-placed 1. FC Heidenheim.

The Berlin club have found an interim replacement in their own ranks, handing 34-year-old Marie-Louise Eta responsibility for the remainder of the season, with five games left to play.

The appointment is historic, as Eta becomes the first woman to be appointed head coach of a men’s team in the Bundesliga and across Europe’s top five leagues.

Eta has already made history in the past. In 2023, she was appointed assistant coach to Marco Grote at Union Berlin, becoming the first woman to take on such a role at the club.

In 2024, she also became the first woman to lead a Bundesliga team from the dugout, when she deputised for Nenad Bjelica, Union’s then head coach, while he was suspended.

Since the start of the 2025/26 season, Eta has been working as coach of Union Berlin’s U19 team, and she is set to take over the club’s women’s team in the summer.

Won UEFA Women's Champions League as a player

Eta is a former player herself, having represented Turbine Potsdam, Hamburger SV, Cloppenburg and Werder Bremen, as well as Germany at various youth levels, before retiring at the end of the 2017/18 season at the age of 26.

During her time at Turbine Potsdam, she won the UEFA Women’s Champions League in 2010, three Bundesliga titles, and two DFB-Hallenpokal trophies.

She also won the UEFA Women’s Under-17 Championship and the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup with Germany.

Now, Eta takes another impressive step in her coaching career, tasked with helping secure Union Berlin’s place in the Bundesliga for another season.