After naming Marie-Louise Eta the first female head coach in Europe’s “big five” soccer leagues, Union Berlin says the club “has her back” as senior executives condemned sexist comments on social media Monday.
Eta’s first Bundesliga game is Saturday against Wolfsburg. There have already been critical comments on social media suggesting that she’s not suitable for the job because she’s a woman.
Union has pushed back online and in person.
“We have 100 percent confidence in Loui, with complete conviction. I find it crazy that we have to deal with this in this day and age, that we have to justify ourselves,” Union’s director of men’s professional football, Horst Heldt said.
Communications director Christian Arbeit said Eta just wanted to coach.
“Marie-Louise Eta has a very pragmatic approach to all of its,” he said. “She’s very conscious that it’s something special, but for her soccer is in the foreground. She wants to work with the team and she wants to be on the field.”
Eta has been named interim coach for the last five games of the season as Union aims to secure its spot in the Bundesliga for next season. Union previously said she will take over as head coach of the club’s women’s team for next season, but Heldt didn’t rule out her continuing with the men’s team either after this season.
“I think at the moment it wouldn’t make sense to rule anything out beyond that,” he said.
Union has also been defending Eta online
“With all due respect, that’s sexism,” Union’s account on X responded to a post arguing that players wouldn’t take a woman’s instructions about tactics seriously. Eta is a longtime member of the club’s coaching staff who has been assistant to the men’s team and head coach of the under-19 team.
It branded another comment “sexist” for claiming that a male coach who lost to her would lose face.
Responding to a comment expressing concern about the treatment of Eta and a potential sexist backlash if she loses a game, the club posted: “The Union family has her back.”
The decision to appoint Eta won praise from Berlin’s mayor Kai Wegner, who called the decision “a strong signal for professional soccer and for women in elite-level sports,” but spelled Eta’s name wrong in the process. The club corrected him. “We were so overwhelmed,” Wegner answered.
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