Marie-Louise Eta and the other women trendsetters in German football
Marie-Louise Eta has made history as the first woman to be appointed as head coach of a Bundesliga team when she replaced Steffen Baumgart at Union Berlin. However, she is far from the only female to have held an important position in German football. Here are a few who have made their mark…
A former women’s Bundesliga player and a Germany youth international, Eta’s first coaching role came in 2018 as a member of Werder Bremen’s youth academy staff. Before long, she was working with Germany women’s U19s as an assistant and, by 2023, she had joined up with Union’s male equivalent.
She was already a trendsetter later that year when she became interim assistant coach of the first team following Urs Fischer’s departure, alongside her boss Marco Grote. She retained the position under Nenad Bjelica and even led the team during his touchline suspension, also becoming the first female assistant coach in UEFA Champions League history.
Eta was placed in full charge of Union's U19s in 2025 and will become head coach of their women's team from 2026/27, but only after she oversees the final five games of the current Bundesliga season with the men.
Bibiana Steinhaus-Webb
Being a referee can be a stressful job at the best of times, so Steinhaus-Webb’s status as the first prominent female official in German football put her under extra scrutiny. However, whether it be refereeing in Bundesliga 2 and the Bundesliga – she became the first woman to do so on each occasion – she carried out her responsibilities to the highest standard.
The DFB’s female referee of the year in 2018, she presided over the 2020 Supercup clash between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, which proved to be the final match of her career in the middle. Following a one-year stint as a video assistant referee, she worked for the English refereeing committee, the PGMOL, as women’s select group director before joining FIFA to become head of the women’s refereeing section.
Kathleen Krüger
Once described as the Bundesliga’s "most powerful woman", Krüger has been a combative character from childhood, practising karate before focusing on football. After featuring for Bayern as a player, she studied international management prior to becoming former sporting director Christian Nerlinger’s assistant in 2009 after impressing during a three-month trial.
Three years later, following Nerlinger’s departure, she became the team manager and earned the trust of the Bayern first team – for example, she was the only person outside of the squad in their WhatsApp group. After taking care of team affairs, such as planning pre-season and mid-seasons tours, with the utmost competence and efficiency, she was promoted to senior leading expert in sport strategy and development at the club in 2024, a position she still holds today.
Katja Kraus
As a three-time winner of the German championship and a Women’s DFB Cup champion on four occasions, Kraus had plenty of pedigree as a player. She carried that into her next career, too, first becoming Eintracht Frankfurt’s press officer in 1998.
Five years later, she made history when she became the first woman to hold a position on the board of a Bundesliga club when she did so at Hamburg. In charge of communication and marketing, she held the position for eight years before leaving in 2011, and has since been on the supervisory board of Adidas.
Steffi Jones
Jones is one of the most decorated female German footballers of all time, earning 111 caps for her country and winning three European Championships, as well as the FIFA World Cup in 2003. As such, she was an obvious choice when she was chosen to head the organising committee for the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany.
After coaching for the national team, she was appointed to Schalke’s advisory board in 2025 - the first woman to do so. “Schalke is a special club that stands for unity and passion. I live here, I know the people and I know how important the club is for the region. It is an honour for me to serve on the supervisory board and contribute my experience,” Jones said upon joining.
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