INGOLSTADT, Germany (AP) \u2014 Sabrina Wittmann, who in 2024 became the first female head coach in the top three men\u2019s soccer divisions in Germany, was fired Thursday after a rocky start to the season.<\/p>\n
Wittmann leaves after three losses in Ingolstadt\u2019s last four games left the team 13th in the 20-team third division, a setback to any chances of promotion. <\/p>\n
The club\u2019s managing director for sport, Harald G\u00e4rtner, said \u201ca change of direction\u201d was needed after recent results and an analysis of the club\u2019s broader development. <\/p>\n
\u201cOn a human and personal level this decision was very hard for us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Wittmann said she had wanted to stay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have been very happy to continue and to carry on with a team full of exceptional characters,\u201d she said. \u201cUnfortunately the trust required for that is no longer there and the club has decided on a different solution.\u201d <\/p>\n
The club did not immediately name a replacement.<\/p>\n
Wittmann was initially made interim coach for four games in 2024 and earned a permanent role by going unbeaten in that stint. <\/p>\n
The 35-year-old Wittmann fell in love with soccer as a teenage exchange student in the United States and had been in various coaching roles with her hometown club Ingolstadt since 2009.<\/p>\n
\u201cIngolstadt was more to me than just another club. I was at home here,\u201d she said Thursday, adding that she leaves her role with \u201ccountless special memories.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wittmann said during her time in charge that she saw \u201cpeople management\u201d as a strength and had needed time to get used to the extra scrutiny as a female coach in a predominantly male sport.<\/p>\n
During Wittmann\u2019s time in charge, Marie-Louise Eta became the first woman to coach a team in any of Europe\u2019s biggest top-level leagues with a five-game interim role at Union Berlin last season.<\/p>\n
Union avoided relegation with Eta, who then moved to coaching Union\u2019s women\u2019s team for the 2026-27 season as the club hired Swiss coach Mauro Lustrinelli for the men\u2019s team job.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
See AP\u2019s full soccer coverage here <\/p>\n
The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGOLSTADT, Germany (AP) \u2014 Sabrina Wittmann, who in 2024 became the first female head coach in the top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-907847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}