BERLIN (AP) — Marie-Louise Eta was in little mood for celebrating after making her debut as the first female coach in the Bundesliga on Saturday.
Eta was feted by the Union Berlin fans before the game, but the team was unable to live up to the sense of occasion as it slumped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Wolfsburg, which was 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 barrier-breaking achievements, and focusing instead on her task of securing Bundesliga survival for Union.
She was appointed as interim coach with five games to go before the end of the season. Now it’s four, and Union is 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.”
Her team missed a host of good chances, with Wolfsburg goalkeeper Kamil Grabara proving to be the decisive figure, while lapses at the back allowed Patrick Wimmer and Dženan Pejčinović to score early in each half for the visitors.
“Today it was simply about focusing on the essentials. In the end, it was about football, and I was really looking forward to playing this Bundesliga match here," Eta said. "Ultimately, it’s bitter and disappointing that we’re leaving here without any points.”
The 34-year-old Eta became the first female coach across the top divisions of the “big five” European leagues in men’s soccer, but she didn’t dwell at all on her achievement.
‘Football-goddess’
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.”
Union next faces Champions League-chasing Leipzig away, then relegation-rival Cologne at home. It will face former coach Urs Fischer – who led the team to promotion in 2019 – at Mainz, before ending the season at home against Augsburg on May 16.
“We clicked quickly,” Union defender Derrick Köhn of Eta’s impact as head coach. “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 analyze this and then prepare for Leipzig and try to give her her present there.”
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