Meet Marie-Louise Eta, the first woman to manage a men’s team in one of Europe’s top five leagues

For Marie-Louise Eta, it wasn’t the dream debut she was looking for on Saturday after becoming the first woman to manage a men’s team in one of Europe’s top five leagues when she took charge of Union Berlin in the Bundesliga.

Eta was feted by the Union Berlin fans before the game, but the team were unable to live up to the sense of occasion as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Wolfsburg, who were previously winless in 12 games.

Eta had spoken before the match of just wanting to get on with the job, deflecting attention from her own glass ceiling-breaking moment, and focusing instead on her task of securing Bundesliga survival for Union.

The 34-year-old was appointed as interim coach with five games to go before the end of the season. Now it's four, and Union are a point closer to the relegation zone, just six points away, despite dominating toward the end against Wolfsburg.

"First of all, of course I'm disappointed that we lost this game. But I'm very happy with how we approached it today, with the lads' performance," Eta said. "We talked about a lot of things this week. We also saw the lads training with good energy, with great conviction, and we implemented the plan we'd developed over the past few days very well today."

Before the game, Union fans greeted each player's name during the lineup announcement with a roar of "Fussballgott!" (football-god), and there were cheers and applause when it came to announcing the coach's name.

"Fussballgottin!" the fans roared – football-goddess.

Eta previously became the first female assistant coach in the men's Bundesliga in 2023, also at Union, and had been coaching the under-19 men's team at the club, where she's affectionately known as Louie.

She made four changes to the team that lost at bottom side Heidenheim the weekend before, bringing back Union veteran Christopher Trimmel.

"For Louie, of course it's difficult to impose all the new things in just three or four days so everything can be implemented immediately. That's perfectly understandable. It would have been difficult for any coach, and yet we still managed to execute a solid match plan well. A lot of things worked out," Trimmel said. "I'm staying positive."

Speaking of Eta's impact as head coach, Union defender Derrick Köhn said: "We clicked quickly. She shared her game plan with us, and we implemented what she gave us. There's not too much new, so we feel very, very comfortable with her. We tried, especially today, to give her the win as a present, but unfortunately, we didn't succeed. As I said, we'll move on. We'll try to analyse this and then prepare for Leipzig and try to give her present there."

The pressure on Eta in the upcoming games is understandable given that even before her five-game interim stint began, the club made one thing crystal clear: she won’t be staying on.

Union president Dirk Zingler had firmly shut down any speculation about Eta taking over the men’s side permanently, insisting she will return to coach the club’s women’s team next season, as per her existing contract.

“If (Eta) is really good, then she stays with the men, and if she’s not so good, she goes to the women. That’s not a discussion I’m having at all."

Zingler doubled down on the stance, arguing that framing her stint as an audition would be unfair, not just to Eta, but to women’s football as a whole.

“It’s always a specialist, fact-based decision… if we associate her with this discussion, then we’re doing a disservice to her and to women’s football as a whole."

Not all discussions around Eta were so rational though.

One X user spilled vitriol on her appointment following the loss. “Go back to the kitchen”, the user wrote. The club’s handle responded with a classy reply, “Is that it? Go back to the kitchen? You are a disappointment to all the hard working misogynists on here.”

For Eta, the next four matches should be enough to shut down the trolls, but if she fails in her endeavor of keeping Union Berlin afloat, it could open up the Pandora’s Box.