A big topic but not for Eta - first female head coach on Union Berlin role

Marie-Louise Eta will take charge of five Union Berlin games as interim head coach [Getty Images] As the world's media crammed into the tiny news conference room in south-east Berlin on Thursday, Marie-Louise Eta could not help but look faintly amused. "It's good to see so many people here and I totally understand that this is a big topic. But for me it has always just been about football and working with people," Union Berlin's new head coach said.

However, as Eta knows well, she will make football history when her side host Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga on Saturday. Appointed as interim coach until the end of the season after the sacking of Steffen Baumgart last weekend, 34-year-old Eta will be the first female to take charge of a men's team in one of the top five European leagues. It is a milestone that has made global headlines, even before a ball is kicked on her watch.

On Thursday Eta was keen to reframe the story, noting she was "far from the first woman working in professional men's football" while also recognising those who see her appointment as having "a signalling effect". This, after all, is not her first rodeo. In the 2023-24 season she became the first female assistant coach in the men's Bundesliga, helping Union Berlin to safety in a dramatic relegation battle.

Now in the top job, the hype is bigger. On Tuesday morning dozens of journalists lined up in the drizzle to watch Eta's first training session. Eta appeared to have an immediate rapport with the players, many of whom she worked with during her previous spell with the men's team.