Germany's "Female Warrior" Rescues Union Berlin, First Female Coach Emerges in Top Five European Leagues

Written by Han Bing On April 11, Bundesliga club Union Berlin appointed 34-year-old Marie-Louise Eta as interim head coach to lead the team through the remaining five Bundesliga matches of the season. As the first female head coach in the Bundesliga and even across Europe's top five leagues, Eta thus entered the annals of world football history. Union Berlin consequently attracted numerous sexist comments on social media, and the club's official social media account decisively countered them. The official announcement became one of the posts with the highest interaction rate in the account's history. Of course, most comments supported the female coach's breakthrough in the men's football world, and many notable figures in German and European football, including Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany, also welcomed the development.

This is not Eta's first entry into the men's football sphere—after retiring in summer 2018 at age 26, she coached Bremen's men's U15 youth team, becoming the first female coach in a German men's professional club's youth setup; in 2022, she stood out from 120 applicants to become the sole female among 16 trainees in the German Football Association's professional coaching course; in summer 2023, she served as assistant coach for Union Berlin's men's U19 team, becoming the first female coach in the club's history and across all age groups in the Bundesliga's men's teams. That season, as Union Berlin debuted in the Champions League, she also became the first female coach in the history of the Youth Champions League, co-coaching four Youth Champions League matches with U19 head coach Grote. On November 15, 2023, when Grote was promoted to interim head coach of Union Berlin, she became the first female assistant coach in the Bundesliga and across Europe's top five leagues' first teams.

On April 14, Eta completed her first training session as Union Berlin's head coach. On April 18, Union Berlin's home Bundesliga match against Wolfsburg will be her historic debut. In fact, she had already "de facto" coached in the Bundesliga two years earlier—in January 2024, Union Berlin head coach Bjelica was suspended for three matches. On January 28, during the home match against Darmstadt, assistant coach Eta assumed head coach duties on the sidelines. The three matches resulted in one win, one draw, and one loss, and the final match as "acting head coach" was also against Wolfsburg. Two years later, her fate completes a cycle with Wolfsburg.

Eta's tenure as Bundesliga head coach is temporarily only 36 days. Originally, this summer she was set to become Union Berlin's women's team head coach, but Union Berlin's sporting director Hürth stated that if she achieves excellent results with the team, there is possibility for her to become Union Berlin's men's team official head coach next season. The Union Berlin locker room prefers to call her "Loui," the short form of her name Marie-Louise. "Loui" in German also means "known warrior." For the men's football world, Eta is indeed a globally renowned "female warrior."

Eta breaking the barrier for female coaches to lead men's teams in Europe's top five leagues may set a trend worldwide.

In Germany, women have gradually entered the men's football world: in 2003, Klaus became Hamburg's board member, the first female board member in a Bundesliga club; in 2012, Krüger became Bayern Munich's first female manager for the first team, and in 2024, she was promoted to Bayern's senior expert for sports strategy and development, remaining in that role to date; in 2017, Weber became the first female referee to officiate in the Bundesliga; in summer 2024, 32-year-old Wittmann coached the third-tier club Ingolstadt, becoming the first female head coach in Germany's men's professional leagues; in 2025, Jones became a member of Schalke 04's advisory committee, the first female to receive this honor; in January 2026, former Swiss national team player Hani became RB Leipzig's CEO, the first female CEO in Bundesliga club history.

Of course, female coaches leading men's teams still face enormous difficulties. From 2014 to 2017, Diacre coached French second-tier club Clermont, becoming the first female coach in French professional leagues. However, currently, there is only one female head coach in French men's leagues—former French women's national team player Boussadia, coaching sixth-tier club Sedan. Currently, among the 14 teams in the women's Bundesliga, only six have female head coaches. Among the 50 people who obtained the German Football Association's highest-level coaching license in the past two years, only two are women. Germany has only 31 women with professional coaching certificates, yet this is the highest number among all European football associations.

It is worth mentioning that Chan Yuen-ting from Hong Kong, China, is the world's first female coach to lead a top-tier league team. From 2015 to 2019, she twice coached Eastern in the Hong Kong Premier League, becoming the first female coach to lead a men's top-tier league team to a championship title and participate in men's club continental competitions.