BERLIN — Union Berlin have appointed Marie-Louise Eta as the primary lady coach in control of a males’s group within the Bundesliga as they bids to make sure their league survival.
The 34-year-old Eta takes over from Steffen Baumgart, who was fired together with his assistants Danilo de Souza and Kevin McKenna after the group’s 3-1 loss at last-place Heidenheim on Saturday, Union introduced simply earlier than midnight.
Eta, who was teaching the under-19 males’s group and agreed earlier this month to take over as coach of Union’s girls’s group subsequent season, has 5 video games to safe Union’s Bundesliga survival.
She made historical past in 2023 as the primary feminine assistant coach within the Bundesliga and throughout the highest divisions of Europe’s huge 5 leagues. She needed to step in for media duties for head coach Nenad Bjelica when he was suspended for 3 video games in 2024.
“I am delighted that Marie Louise Eta has agreed to tackle this function on an interim foundation earlier than she turns into head coach of the ladies’s first group as deliberate in the summertime,” Union sporting director Horst Heldt mentioned in an announcement.
Baumgart, a former Union participant, was appointed through the 2024-25 winter break however Heldt mentioned latest outcomes prompted the membership to take drastic motion.
“We have had an fully disappointing second half of the season up to now and we’re not letting the desk idiot us — our state of affairs stays precarious and we desperately want factors to safe our place within the league.”
Defeat in Heidenheim left Union in eleventh place within the 18-team division, simply seven factors away from St. Pauli within the relegation zone with 5 rounds remaining.
“Two wins out of 14 video games because the winter break and the performances proven in latest weeks don’t give us the boldness that we will flip issues round with the present setup. We have now subsequently determined to make a recent begin,” Heldt mentioned.
Union subsequent host Wolfsburg, who’re additionally combating for survival, subsequent weekend.
