3rd league - Wittmann wants to be a role model: "Change things in the future"
Sabrina Wittmann waited for a while on the training ground before her players arrived for the training kick-off. The 32-year-old is not only ahead at FC Ingolstadt in the 3. League - as Germany's first professional trainer in men's football, she wants to be a role model for many other women in the industry.
"I believe it's at a point where one can and should take on this pioneer role," Wittmann said on Thursday. After an interim phase at the end of the previous season, Wittmann was promoted to head coach at FCI - a woman as a coach in the three highest German leagues had never existed before. And she wants to ensure that she doesn't remain a unique case.
"It's important to pave the way; but less with words, more with action," she said at the press conference before the season opener. "I've never made a big issue of myself. I'm happy to take it on if I can contribute to some things changing in the future."
No longer hiding - and for a long time yet - the focus is on Wittmann more than the thirty men who were with her on the field on Thursday. She admitted that she had previously hesitated when many called her a pioneer for women in football. "I hid from that for a long time," she said. Now she is embracing the role. "I don't mind that a lot is happening around me."
Pro-Licence in the next year?
She would only wish that it would be all about football in the future. "I hope that we will be sitting here in a year and talking about sports things," she said. Until then, she assumes that she will have a place in the trainer training course of the German Football Association for the UEFA Pro-Licence - the DFB had previously denied her this.
After the decision of Ingolstadt to hand over the responsibility for the first team to Wittmann, there were many expressions of support from various quarters. Grings, for example, spoke of a signal for the entire industry. "Unbelievable numbers of people have congratulated me," Wittmann now reported. In addition to internal congratulations, there were reportedly also messages from other clubs and the DFB. "It was all positive and nice messages."
Sport director Grlic emphasized that Wittmann had convinced the club management with her ideas and above all her long-term experience at FCI. "We have everything we imagined with Sabrina. No more DNA can go in."
Press release on Wittmann's promotion
- Despite waiting for a while on the training ground, Sabrina Wittmann, the 32-year-old head coach at FC Ingolstadt in the 3rd league, is determined to serve as a role model for women in the soccer industry in Germany and beyond.
- Wittmann's promotion to head coach at FCI made her the first professional trainer in men's football in Germany, and she aims to prevent herself from being a unique case.
- In order to pave the way for change, Wittmann prefers to take action rather than simply talk about her role, as she emphasized at the press conference before the season opener.
- Sabrina Wittmann, now comfortable with her role as a pioneer for women in soccer, admitted that she once hesitated to embrace the label.
- Following Ingolstadt's decision to entrust the first team to Wittmann, she received numerous expressions of support from various quarters, including Grings and the DFB.
- Grlic, the sport director at FC Ingolstadt, commended Wittmann for convincing the club management with her ideas and long-term experience at FCI, asserting that she perfectly fits their vision.
- In light of her impressive performance and contributions to FC Ingolstadt, Wittmann hopes that in the future, discussions centered around her would revolve solely around soccer, with the opportunity to pursue a Pro-Licence from the DFB.
