First assistant coach: Marie-Louise Eta makes history

1. FC Union Berlin has parted ways with Urs Fischer after five years, thereby reacting to the ongoing negative trend of the last few weeks. Union’s U19 coach Marco Grote will take over as interim coach until further notice, and will be supported by his assistant coach Marie-Louise Eta. The 32-year-old is the first woman on the sidelines of a Bundesliga team.

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Marie-Louise Eta would hardly have dared to dream that after her move from Werder Bremen to 1. FC Union Berlin in the summer she would one day be sitting in the coaching bench during a Bundesliga game. Now exactly this case is occurring and will become reality on matchday 12. After the separation from Urs Fischer, the U19 coaching team took over the Swiss’s position on an interim basis. Also there is Eta, who, as Marco Grote’s assistant coach, becomes the first woman on the sidelines in Bundesliga history.

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From the active career to the coaching chair

Before Marie-Louise Eta took on her first positions as a coach, she was particularly successful as an active player in her younger years. At that time she still played under her birth name Bagehorn for 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, with whom she won the German championship three times and the Champions League title in 2010. The Dresden native was also very successful in the U-national teams, winning the European Championship with the U17 in 2008 and the World Championship with the U20 in 2010. After several injuries, she had to end her active career at the age of 26, but then continued as a trainer.

At SV Werder Bremen, Eta took over the coaching position of the U15 juniors for the first time in 2014 – parallel to her last position as an active player on the Weser, where she played 84 games until 2018. In 2021, the DFB got in touch and made Eta assistant coach of the female U15 national team. She also completed several courses, including the pro license course at the DFB Academy Frankfurt, which she was the only woman to successfully complete in 2022. Since then, the 32-year-old has also been officially allowed to stand on the sidelines as head coach in the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga. It was only in the summer of 2023 that Eta moved to the U19 team of 1. FC Union Berlin, where she acts as Marco Grote’s assistant coach – a step that should now give her an entry in the Bundesliga history books.

“I can imagine a lot of things,” Eta once said when asked where she would like to head as a coach in the future and added: “At some point, taking over a youth national team, working as an assistant coach in the men’s professional leagues “To coach a women’s Bundesliga team, as well as U-17 or U-19 boys.” Now she can actually prove herself as the first assistant coach in Bundesliga history with the Iron Men.

Well-known women in the Bundesliga

Marie-Louise Eta will be the first assistant coach in the Bundesliga. In addition to her, several women have already made a name for themselves in the Bundesliga. Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb was the first woman to referee a game in German professional men’s football. From 2007 to 2020 she refereed 92 games in the 2nd Bundesliga and from 2017 to 2020 23 games in the Bundesliga. Katrin Rafalski is currently still active as an assistant referee in the 2nd Bundesliga.

If you look a few leagues deeper, two women have already made a name for themselves in men’s football: In 2019, Inka Grings was coach at SV Straelen in the 4th league, and in mid-April 2020, Imke Wübbenhorst took over as coach during the season break caused by the corona pandemic the sports friends Lotte.

Another well-known face from the Bundesliga is Kathleen Krüger. The 38-year-old is the team manager at FC Bayern Munich and is particularly at the forefront when making changes during games. After several women have already established themselves in the Bundesliga in recent years, the next position will now be filled by a woman, Marie-Louise Eta. Time to make history again!

Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb led the Supercup 2020 – Bernd Feil/MiS/Pool