Union Berlin has surprisingly parted ways with head coach Steffen Baumgart. The current U19 coach Marie-Louise Eta will take over as her successor until the end of the season, as the Bundesliga club announced shortly before midnight. A few hours earlier, the Berliners had lost 3-1 at bottom team Heidenheim. The lead of the eleventh in the table over relegation place 16 is still seven points.
In addition to the 54-year-old Baumgart, his assistant coaches Danilo de Souza and Kevin McKenna also have to go. “We have had an absolutely disappointing second half of the season so far and we are not letting ourselves be blinded by the standings in the table: our situation is still threatening and we urgently need points to ensure we stay in the league,” explained professional football managing director Horst Heldt, according to the statement.
Heldt: We no longer had any conviction
“Two wins from fourteen games since the winter break and the performances shown in the last few weeks do not give us the confidence that we will be able to reverse the trend in the current situation,” Heldt continued. “We have therefore decided to start again now.”
Baumgart’s sporting end at Union also comes as a surprise because the Berliners had only prematurely extended the contract with the former Union player in January. The Rostock native took over the Köpenick team as coach at the beginning of January 2025 and led them to 13th place last season.
In Eta, a woman will be the head coach of a men’s Bundesliga team for the first time. For Eta, who will take over Berlin’s Bundesliga women from the summer, the task is not completely new territory. The 34-year-old had already accompanied Köpenicker’s relegation battle as an assistant coach in May 2024.
“I am pleased that Marie-Louise Eta has agreed to take on this task on an interim basis before she becomes head coach of the women’s professional team in the summer as planned,” said Heldt. She is “convinced that we will get the decisive points with the team,” added Eta. (DPA)
