Steffen Baumgart sacked as Union Berlin manager after poor run

1. FC Union Berlin have parted company with head coach Steffen Baumgart with immediate effect, the club confirmed on Saturday. The decision follows a 2-0 away defeat to 1. FC Heidenheim, which leaves the club 14th in the Bundesliga.

Assistant coaches Danilo de Souza and Kevin McKenna will also leave the club. Baumgart took charge in December 2024 but oversaw a difficult period, with Union Berlin winning just two of his last 14 Bundesliga matches in charge. The defeat to Heidenheim, a team in the relegation play-off spot, proved the final straw for the club's hierarchy.

"We would like to thank Steffen, Danilo and Kevin for their work and commitment," said Union's director of men's professional football, Horst Heldt. "We wish them all the best, both professionally and personally." The club currently sits just seven points above the relegation play-off place, a precarious position that prompted the board to act.

For the remainder of the season, the first team will be led by Marie-Louise Eta, who will combine her current role as the designated head coach of the women's first team with the men's first-team duties. Eta, who previously coached the club's U-19 side, will make history as the first woman to take charge of a men's Bundesliga team. She is the first woman to be appointed as a permanent head coach in the league's history.

"One of Union's strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations," Eta said in a statement. "And, of course, I am convinced that we will secure the crucial points with the team." Her immediate task will be to secure Union's Bundesliga status, with the club just seven points clear of the relegation play-off spot.

Baumgart's tenure, which began in December 2024, failed to produce a sustained run of form. His departure marks a swift end to a project that began with optimism but ultimately failed to lift Union Berlin from the lower half of the table. The club will hope the historic appointment of Eta can provide a fresh impetus for the final stretch of the season.