Marie-Louise Etta made history - first to be appointed head coach in the major leagues

Football history is being written by 34-year-old Marie-Louise Etta, the first woman in the history of the top five leagues to take over the helm of Union Berlin.

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Eta has a clear goal - to restore confidence to the Union team, Photo: unionberlin.de
Eta has a clear goal - to restore confidence to the Union team, Photo: unionberlin.de
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Bundesliga history is being written by 34-year-old Marie-Louise Etta, the first woman in the history of the top five leagues to take over the helm of Union Berlin.

Following the resignation of Head Coach Baumgart, Mari will be the interim head coach for the next five games until the end of the season.

The Berliners are 11th in the table, seven points above the play-off spot.

"Given that the bottom half of the table is "crowded", our place in the Bundesliga is not yet guaranteed. I am glad that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union's strengths has always been and remains the ability to unite in such situations. And, of course, I am convinced that we will win the necessary points with the team," said Eta.

He will lead the team until the end against Wolfsburg (17th place), Leipzig (3rd), Cologne (15th), Mainz (9th) and Augsburg (10th).

"We had an extremely disappointing second half of the season, so we must not let our position in the table fool us. The situation remains uncertain - we urgently need points to secure our place in the league. Two wins in 14 games since the winter break and the performances of recent weeks have left us without confidence. So we had to start from scratch. I am delighted that Marie-Louise Eta has agreed to take on the role temporarily, before becoming, from the summer, the main one in the club's women's team," said Horst Helt, director of Union.

Eta was a great footballer, winning the Champions League in 2010 and three Bundesliga titles (2009-2011) with Turbine Potsdam. As a member of the German youth national team, Mari won the Under-20 World Cup (2010) and the Under-17 European Championship (2008), and also won bronze at the Under-17 World Cup that year.

She also played for Hamburg and Wolfsburg, ending her career at the age of 27. She began coaching in the junior teams of Werder Bremen and the German national team, and in 2023 joined Union Berlin, where she became Mark Grote's assistant in the men's U19 team and later the first team.

When Nenad Bjelica was suspended, she led Union to a 1-0 victory over Darmstadt. Now she's the head of the coaching staff!

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