Union Replace Fischer With First Female Coach In Bundesliga History

Union Berlin and Urs Fischer have decided to go their separate ways. Both the Bundesliga club and the former head coach announced that decision together during the international break. Union then made Bundesliga history by appointing interim coach Marco Grote and interim assistant Marie-Louise Eta to run the first team.

Only 32, Eta becomes the first female to coach a Bundesliga team as either head or assistant. Together with Grote, Eta will now be in charge of trying to stop a nine-game losing streak that has seen Union hit last place in the Bundesliga standings.

It will be a monumental task. After all, in the five years in charge, Fischer has not only guided Union Berlin to the Bundesliga but also to the Champions League. In charge of 224 games across all competitions, Fischer won 95 games, drew 58, and lost 71. With that in mind, the club made it very clear that this was a mutual decision by everyone involved and one that was not taken lightly.

“This is a very sad moment not only for me personally but certainly for the entire Union family,” Union Berlin president Dirk Zingler said in a club statement. “It hurts that we have not managed to break the negative run of recent weeks. I am grateful and proud when looking back on the time we have spent and the successes we have celebrated together. As painful as this separation is, Urs Fischer is leaving as a friend who will always be welcomed by us with open arms.”

Although hugely successful with Union Berlin, there was a sense that the club may have overcooked it on the transfer market. For a long time, the club bought players who then improved under Fischer and were then sold with a profit. But after reaching the Champions League, more established stars like Robin Gosens, Kevin Volland, Brenden Aaronson, and Leonardo Bonucci were brought in.

Those big-name players were supposed to help Union Berlin navigate their first-ever Champions League campaign. But with the exception of Gosens for the first few games, all the big-name signings failed to meet expectations. In fact, while Union Berlin played like a team bigger than the sum of its parts for the last four years, this season, it was almost reversed with the club failing to get the horsepower onto the pitch.

Some of that might be on Fischer, who perhaps simply wasn’t capable of selling the new signings his style of football. But some of it is also on the decision-makers above him who cobbled together a team that lacked the Union Berlin identity.

“The last few weeks have cost me a lot of energy,” Fischer said on Wednesday. “We have tried everything, and the team has worked very hard, but the results just weren’t there. I am thankful for the trust I have felt here, but it feels right to bring in some change. Sometimes the team needs a different face and a different type of message to kick start a development.”

For now, those new faces will be Grote and Eta, a historic duo that will be tasked to give the club time to find a more permanent solution. Indeed, finding the next head coach might be the biggest task of the decision-makers in recent history, one that will one day come down as a turning point in the club’s history. Whether it will be a negative or positive turning point remains to be seen.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth and on Threads: @manuveth