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When Marie-Louise Eta sits in the away team’s bench at Braga on Wednesday night, women around the globe will have a reason to cheer enthusiastically. As the interim joint assistant manager for Union Berlin, Eta will be the first female coach to actively participate in a men’s Champions League group stage match.
Not too long ago, it seemed impossible for this to happen. The challenges involved made it almost equivalent to a human walking on the moon. In the men’s game, gender diversity is still just a distant goal and not a reality. However, on Saturday, Eta helped lead Union Berlin to a 1-1 draw at home against Augsburg, marking a significant milestone as the first female assistant manager in Bundesliga history.
After nine consecutive losses, Urs Fischer was fired and Eta and Union’s under-19 coach, Marco Grote, was promoted to temporary manager of the first team.
On Monday, Grote rejoined the under-19s team following Nenad Bjelica’s role as manager for Union. However, for the time being, Eta will continue to work with the first team and assist coach Bjelica alongside his trusted sidekick, Danijel Jumic.
Eta, who previously played under her maiden name Bagehorn, is set to return to the junior team once Sebastian Bönig, Fischer’s former deputy, comes back from an extended absence. However, her recent time in the spotlight may have a significant impact on her career. Eta, now 32 years old, has a successful track record in football, winning the Women’s Champions League in 2009-10 as a defensive midfielder for Turbine Potsdam. She hails from Dresden and is married to Benjamin, a former professional footballer who is now a coach. With her experience and background in European football, Eta is far from being a novice.
However, she is aware that her achievement of breaking through the “grass ceiling” in football, as referred to by many women in the industry, will likely come with a lot of scrutiny and doubt.
While Grote claims she was readily embraced by the under-19 men’s team at Union, Eta shared a more detailed experience with Uefa last month. She stated, “I have always avoided drawing attention to my gender, but I couldn’t help but notice a change in the way some people treated me.” She also acknowledged that this shift in treatment was not always easy to deal with.
Eta has the option to turn to her close friend and previous teammate at BV Cloppenburg, Imke Wübbenhorst, for advice. Imke Wübbenhorst has made history in German football by coaching the lower-division men’s team at Cloppenburg and being a part of Julian Nagelsmann’s staff at RB Leipzig during their 2019-20 Champions League run.
Wübbenhorst is the manager of Young Boys’ women’s team in Switzerland and offered her old friend the following advice: “As a female you have to convince male players with good drills and good analysis. They will not be impressed with your playing career and there are some foreign players with different views of the world.”
Eta’s prominent appearance can expand narrow perspectives and defy preconceived notions. Additionally, it may provide motivation for a select group of accomplished individuals such as Helen Nkwocha, who manages the men’s team for the Faroe Islands’ Tvøroyrar Bóltfelag, and Lydia Bedford, the manager for the under-18s men’s team at Brentford.
They are emulating the actions of Corinne Diacre. From 2014-17, the ex-coach of France’s women’s team had a period of leading the men’s Ligue 2 team, Clermont Foot. In 1999, Carolina Morace briefly assumed control at Serie C’s Viterbese in Italy. Last summer, Hannah Dingley temporarily took over as manager for League Two’s Forest Green Rovers in England.
Sarina Wiegman, the highly accomplished manager of England’s women’s team, sees a shift happening in men’s football. Wiegman recently shared that when she was young, she was not permitted to play football, but now that seems odd. She hopes that in the next 20 years, it will be equally commonplace for females to coach male teams. Despite the progress in other industries where females hold leadership roles, there is still skepticism about whether a woman can coach a men’s team.
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Wiegman’s career was potentially influenced by her internship with the Sparta Rotterdam men’s coaching staff. She will likely keep an eye on Eta’s development.
After retiring at the age of 26, Eta became a coach and quickly obtained her pro license. She was praised for her coaching work with Germany’s junior national women’s teams.
“I am not proud to be the only woman,” stated Eta as she accepted the position of men’s under-19 coach at Union Berlin. “I believe there should be no distinction between men and women in youth football. What truly matters is the coach’s quality and performance, both on and off the field.”
Kevin Schade from Germany seems to share this sentiment. When his agent took to social media to criticize the hiring of Eta and stated that it was bringing shame to German football, Schade immediately decided to terminate their professional relationship. In response, Schade stated, “I believe in transparency, fairness, and inclusion.”
While it may be overly optimistic to expect these progressive attitudes to be common in a culture that is often conservative and occasionally even sexist, Wiegman is hopeful that change is on the horizon.
She believes that a woman is capable of coaching a men’s team. It’s only a matter of time before it becomes a reality, and once it does, it will pave the way for others to do the same.
Source: theguardian.com
