1. FC Union fires Baumgart – and makes a girl head coach for the primary time | EUROtoday

Steffen Baumgart is now not the coach of 1. FC Union. A number of hours after the 3-1 defeat at backside membership Heidenheim, the 54-year-old was launched by the Berliners. The membership introduced this on Saturday shortly earlier than midnight and on the similar time brought about a novelty. For the primary time, a girl shall be head coach within the males’s Bundesliga: Marie-Louise Eta, earlier coach of the U19 juniors and future coach of the ladies’s skilled workforce, will lead Köpenick to remain within the league.

Managing director Horst Heldt was clear in his justification. “We have had an absolutely disappointing second half of the season so far and we are not letting ourselves be blinded by the standings in the table,” he stated: “Our situation is still threatening and we urgently need points to secure our stay in the league. Two wins from fourteen games since the winter break and the performances we have shown in the last few weeks do not give us the conviction that we will be able to reverse the trend in the current constellation. We have therefore decided to start again now.”

He is happy that Marie-Louise Eta has agreed to tackle this activity “before she becomes head coach of the women’s professional team in the summer as planned.” He wish to thank Baumgart and his assistant coaches Danilo de Souza and Kevin McKenna for the work they’ve accomplished. This lasted round 15 months; Baumgart began in Berlin in January 2025.

Eta additionally labored for Werder and the DFB

His successor was a former footballer herself and performed for Turbine Potsdam and Werder Bremen, amongst others. After his energetic profession, Eta pursued a training profession and labored within the Werder Bremen youth workforce and on the DFB. She has been underneath contract with Union since 2023. Alongside Marco Grote, she had already briefly taken over the primary workforce twice after coach dismissals. Now she is solely accountable for the primary time.

“Staying in the Bundesliga is not yet guaranteed given the point gap in the bottom half of the table,” Eta is quoted within the assertion: “I am pleased that the club has entrusted me with this demanding task. One of Union’s strengths was and is to pool all our strengths together in such situations. And of course I am convinced that we will get the decisive points with the team.”