Turbulent weeks for 32-year-olds
Marie-Louise Eta writes league history at Union Berlin
November 15, 2023, 5:03 p.m
There has never been a female assistant coach in the men’s Bundesliga. 1. FC Union Berlin, which is promoting Marie-Louise Eta, is now changing that. However, it remains to be seen whether she will actually sit on the bench. For the time being, she will take on the position of assistant to interim coach Marco Grote.
Before her aptitude test for her coaching license, she walked around “with a pulse that felt like it was 300.” On an unexpectedly eventful Wednesday, Marie-Louise Eta made it straight into the history books of German football. After separating from head coach Urs Fischer, the Dresden native was promoted to assistant coach at 1. FC Union Berlin, thereby creating a novelty in the Bundesliga.
It remains to be seen whether the 32-year-old will be on the bottom bench against FC Augsburg on November 25th. Eta, like U19 coach Marco Grote, is only in office on a temporary basis. It is anything but impossible that Union will find a new head coach in the next ten days who will bring his own staff with him.
For Eta, who was born Marie-Louise Bagehorn, the temporary promotion to the professionals is a dream come true. She could well imagine a lot of things, she told “Kicker” in the winter of 2022. “At some point, taking over a youth national team, working as an assistant coach in the men’s professional leagues, coaching a women’s Bundesliga team, as well as U-17 or U-19 boys,” said Eta. She can already tick some of her boxes.
Emotional chaos in the Eta house
Eta joined the Köpenickers in July, and before that she was part of the coaching staff at various U teams at the DFB. Her coaching career began with the male U15 team at Werder Bremen. As a player, Eta played the most games of her career for Werder.
At the end of February 2022, she got a place in the DFB’s Pro License course. She went to school next to Hansi Flick’s former assistant Danny Röhl. Before the aptitude test, she was under a lot of stress: “I walked around all day with what felt like a heart rate of 300 and I put a lot of pressure on myself because I obviously wanted to put my best foot forward and there were a few challenges. That was one Intense day and a beautiful emotional chaos.”
This week alone may have caused a chaos of emotions in the Eta house. It was only on Monday that the regional league team Weiche Flensburg parted ways with Benjamin Eta after a sobering start to the season. Two days later, his wife Marie-Louise is in the headlines.