BERLIN (AP) — As the first and only woman named head coach of Germany’s men’s professional soccer team, Sabrina Wittmann faces more pressure and scrutiny than most other players.
Wittmann has been the manager of his hometown club Ingolstadt since May 2024, taking charge for the final four games of the season. Ingolstadt won the Bavarian Cup undefeated and Wittmann made history. be given the job permanently That June.
“I opened the door a little bit for women, and at first I was honestly afraid of closing it just as quickly (again),” Whitman told reporters in an online call Friday.
“The pressure you feel at first is something you get used to,” she said. “The best answer to all of this is that I get a lot more questions about football now than I did when I first started. And that’s what I like about it.”
support and adversity
Whitman, 34, is focused on herself, her strengths and what she wants to accomplish.
“I wanted to be the best for myself, not because of everyone else… It’s so natural and authentic to me. It’s probably unnatural for a woman to try to be a man or to be on the same stage as a man,” she said.
As a coach, she feels it is first and foremost “people management” and the hardest part is making unpopular decisions. Empathy can go a long way in defusing tension while seeking the best.
“I feel really accepted. I’ve always felt accepted,” she said, praising the support she receives from the club and managing director Dietmar Beiersdorfer.
However, Whitman has experienced negative comments on social media and at the stadium as well.
“I try not to focus on things like that, because whether the conversation is positive or negative, nine out of 10 people are really positive and one person is negative,” she said. “Sometimes the loudest people are the most negative, but there are nine people who think it’s a good thing, so I try to focus on that and not make things bigger than they are.”
First step in America
Wittmann started playing soccer at the age of 14. She went to Kentucky, USA as an exchange student and found a job as an assistant coach there through her host mother, a school teacher.
“I fell in love with this job or this part of soccer. Then I moved back (to Germany), so I was still playing as a player and also coaching at the same time,” she said.
Whitman said the game is more physical in the United States compared to Germany.
“I had never been to a gym before, so I went to America every day, which was like a gym, something I didn’t do in Germany,” she said. “When I came back playing soccer here, the girls said I was playing a lot more physical than before.”
contract extension
on friday, Ingolstadt announced It was to extend Whitman’s contract. Entering the weekend, Ingolstadt were sitting 11th in the 20-team division, far from being relegated or promoted, before hosting Verl on Sunday.
Coach Wittman emphasized the importance of long-term planning, saying, “Even if we don’t make it to the second division, we’ve done a good job in the last two years. But I think we need to build on something over the years.” “We have to grow healthy.”
Ingolstadt is Relegated from Bundesliga in 2017 Promoted from Division 2 in 2019. They were promoted to the second division in 2021, but fell back down the following season.
Wittmann, who was watching Ingolstadt in the Bundesliga from the stands as a fan, said the promotion was probably premature.
“I think the last few years, especially with Didi Beiersdorfer, the emphasis has been on building something,” she said, noting the team lost 19 players last summer. “I don’t mean it in a sad way, but (because) we’ve developed players who go up to the second league and even the first league. I’m a youth coach, and my first priority is player development. The better the players are, the better the team will be in the end.”
The contract extension comes just over a month after Wittmann received his professional license, the German Football Federation’s highest coaching qualification.
“It was a big dream of mine to one day get my pro license because it would mean I would be able to train every team on the planet,” she said.
Opportunities for women remain limited
In 2023, Marie-Louise Eta of Union Berlin First female assistant coach in the BundesligaAnd in 2017 Bibiana Steinhaus appointed as first female referee Although they are active in the Bundesliga, there are very few women making any progress in Germany’s men’s professional soccer world, while there are many men involved in women’s soccer. Christian Wück is a man who coaches the German women’s team.
Wittmann admitted it would be “probably difficult” to find decision-makers to appoint women as head coaches at Germany’s 36 clubs in the men’s first and second divisions, but said he believed it could happen.
“I had a lot of discussions with decision-makers at other clubs,” she said. “So there’s a difference between telling me and saying you’re doing a good job and making a decision. I know that’s difficult.”
For now, her focus is on her hometown club.
“At some point it’s going to happen and I’ll have to leave. Hopefully I’ll be able to coach an even higher-ranked team,” Wittman said. “I think it’s going to be difficult. I know that and it’s not going to be easy. But I hope that in five years, nine years, 10 years, whatever, things will be different. Not just for me, but for all the women who want to be coaches.”
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