FILE - Coach Sabrina Wittmann from Ingolstadt reacts during the 3. Liga soccer match between FC Ingolstadt and SV Waldhof Mannheim on May 5, 2024. (Daniel Karmann/dpa via AP, File)
September 24, 2026 - 3:12 AM
INGOLSTADT, Germany (AP) — Sabrina Wittmann, who in 2024 became the first female head coach in the top three men's soccer divisions in Germany, was fired Thursday after a rocky start to the season.
Wittmann leaves after three losses in Ingolstadt's last four games left the team 13th in the 20-team third division, a setback to any chances of promotion.
The club's managing director for sport, Harald Gärtner, said “a change of direction” was needed after recent results and an analysis of the club's broader development.
“On a human and personal level this decision was very hard for us,” he added.
Wittmann said she had wanted to stay.
“I would have been very happy to continue and to carry on with a team full of exceptional characters,” she said. “Unfortunately the trust required for that is no longer there and the club has decided on a different solution.”
The club did not immediately name a replacement.
Wittmann was initially made interim coach for four games in 2024 and earned a permanent role by going unbeaten in that stint.
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.
“Ingolstadt was more to me than just another club. I was at home here,” she said Thursday, adding that she leaves her role with “countless special memories.”
Wittmann said during her time in charge that she saw “people management” as a strength and had needed time to get used to the extra scrutiny as a female coach in a predominantly male sport.
During Wittmann's time in charge, Marie-Louise Eta became the first woman to coach a team in any of Europe's biggest top-level leagues with a five-game interim role at Union Berlin last season.
Union avoided relegation with Eta, who then moved to coaching Union's women's team for the 2026-27 season as the club hired Swiss coach Mauro Lustrinelli for the men's team job.
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