Frankfurt (Germany), 16 April. (LaPresse) – On the eve of her debut in the Bundesliga, Marie-Louise Eta tries to extinguish the media hype: "Only football counts". The new coach of Union Berlin, the first woman to lead a men's team in the German top flight, wants to focus exclusively on the match against Wolfsburg scheduled for Saturday. After the appointment, which arrived a few days ago as Steffen Baumgart's successor, the debate on the role of women in men's professional football has heated up. However, Eta maintains focus on the sporting objective: "For me it's about working with the group, collaboration and achieving the best together", he explained. The 34-year-old recognized the importance of the topic on a public level, but clarified that in her personal experience gender has never been central: "I understand that it is talked about, but for me it has always been natural to look at the work and the results". Eta also downplayed the sexist comments received on social media, preferring to ignore them: "I don't read the comments. These things say more about the person writing them than the person receiving them." The club however strongly condemned the attacks. Now all the attention is on the match: Union is looking for fundamental points against Wolfsburg, fighting not to be relegated. "It's nice when you only talk about football, performances and results: this is independent of gender. At kick-off only the game counts", concluded Eta.
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