Eta appointment: Token or door-opener for women?

Matthias Koch/dpa Eintracht Braunschweig president Nicole Kumpis has hailed the appointment of Marie-Louise Eta at Union Berlin but said that existing football structures make it difficult for more women to have a coaching career in Germany. Kumpis was a trailblazer herself when she was elected president of the second division club in 2022. Eta became the first woman to coach a men's team in a European top league when she succeeded Steffen Baumgart on Saturday which has generated huge media attention in Germany and abroad but also online abuse.

Structural problems "I know Marie-Louise, I was very happy for her and wished her a lot of success for this task. But at the same time we are not where we should be in 2026 because such moves should no longer be something exceptional," Kumpis told dpa. "There is no lack of skill but of structural conditions and opportunities.

"It is therefore even more important that more women become visible and enter leading positions in professional football - on the coaching bench, in management or in committees. " Male dominance Claudia Neumann, the first woman to commentate a men's match on German TV at Euro 2016 which made her the target of wide-ranging abuse, struck a similar line. “The existing structures are clearly geared towards male football coaches and systematically make it difficult for women to enter the profession and progress,” Neumann told dpa.

“In the coaching sector, licences must be obtained, yet even in recent years there have only been a few token women. "The requirements for access to these courses present high hurdles for women. In particular, providing evidence of practical experience quickly becomes a challenge, because even the first steps into these areas are difficult to take," Neumann said.