“I knew I opened the door a little for women,” says Sabrina Wittmann, the first woman to take charge of a men’s team in Germany’s top three divisions when she was appointed head coach of Ingolstadt in 2024. “I was honestly afraid of closing the door.”
It is an admission that hints at the weight of responsibility this young woman must have felt when the nation’s media descended on the city to cover this curiosity. “There were so many cameras and media,” she recalls. “That was something new in Ingolstadt.”
Internally, the decision to turn to Wittmann as the club’s new interim head coach that spring had felt like the natural choice. She had already coached the U17 team, the U19 team, and was the director of development at the third-tier club at the time.
Wittmann has worked her way up through the ranks [Credit: FC Ingolstadt]
An unbeaten end to the league season coupled with victory in the Bavarian Cup persuaded Ingolstadt to appoint Wittmann as permanent head coach that summer. Almost two years on, she is still there, having just signed a new contract extension.
It feels like a good time to reflect on what she has learned. “I am really lucky because I have people here who never rated me as only a woman. That is probably something which is not that common. And I have never had problems with the players,” she says.
“When I was younger, I thought it was all about the football side, but as I grew as a coach, it is probably more people management than anything else. It is human beings. They are not only football players, they are fathers, they have kids, they are parents.”
Some of the questions are familiar now. How has she been received by her peers on the touchline? “Eight out of 10 are really nice towards me.” The difference when coaching men and women? “Women are probably a lot more patient about video analysis.”
Wittmann on the training ground with Ingolstadt [Credit: FC Ingolstadt]
For Wittmann, 34, there is the constant balance between recognising the responsibility of her role as an ambassador for women in the men’s game and just wanting to be judged on the same criteria as the coaches she shakes hands with each week.
“It is okay for me to be the first woman and I am really proud of it but at the end of the day I want to be a good coach,” she says. “I have had the negative stuff on social media, even at stadiums, people yelling at me. But I mean, it is nothing. I do not focus on it.”
Asked for her coaching influences and Wittmann namechecks Jurgen Klopp for his emotional leadership and Pep Guardiola for his attention to detail, even talking of trying to blend Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel. But she wants to find her own path.
“I love intense football, with and without the ball. Ball possession is a big deal but it is really important that we press high and get the ball as quickly as possible. We also have to have a structure to defend our goal. But it is really important to have my own style.”
Interestingly, the words of her father still resonate. “He told me that the strength of a woman is something that I should not lose because men, they, not love it, but they know about it through their mother, their sister. So I try to be natural and that works.”
She adds: “I do not need to be extra hard or anything. Just be authentic. You do not need to be harder just because you are a woman. If a woman tries to be a man, it is probably unnatural, you know what I mean? So, I am probably more soft than a man.”
“I am probably more soft than a man,” says Ingolstadt head coach Wittmann
It helps that she can back it up. Wittmann’s football journey began at the age of 14 when she was spotted on vacation by German legend Miroslav Klose who encouraged her parents to help her pursue it. She started coaching as an exchange student in Kentucky.
“I just fell in love with this job.” Working her way up from coaching Ingolstadt’s U10s, Wittmann completed her UEFA Pro Licence in January. “That was actually a life goal, a big dream. It means that you are able to train every team on this planet.”
Ingolstadt head coach Wittmann has just been given a contract extension
Wittmann talks of being “a strong personality” and becoming used to being the only woman in the room. “As a coach, I grew up with only men, I am really used to it.” She makes the point that has had to be “really good to be accepted” and you believe her.
Despite her relatively young age, she brings other experiences to the role too. An apprenticeship at Audi. “Learning to work in an organisation helps you to organise yourself.” She studied law too. “Because I did not think I would work in football.”
Ingolstadt head coach Wittmann wants to play a pressing game
A workaholic, she credits the Pro Licence with helping her to work on herself. “Nobody ever talked with me about how to manage myself better.” But now she is already thinking about the next career goal. “I would love to get promoted during the next two years.”
Ingolstadt were in the Bundesliga as recently as 2017, a great story in its own right as they rose under Ralph Hasenhuttl. “I was in the stadium. They were great times.” But it is not about mimicry. “It is not just copy and paste. I do not want to be Ralph Hasenhuttl.”
After stabilising the club with mid-table finishes in the third tier, Ingolstadt are seeking a new way. “It is about building something. We lost 19 players last season. Not in a sad way. We developed players who went up to the second league or even the first league.”
Wittmann retains the instincts of a youth coach. The better the player gets, the better the team gets,” she says. “That is the reason I extended my contract because I think we did a good job in the last two years, even if we did not get up. We need to build.”
Wittmann hopes other decision-makers are as open to appointing a woman
How her own career develops from here is a fascination for those well beyond this city in Bavaria and she knows it. It is an awkward question to put to her but needs asking. Ingolstadt were convinced but where is the evidence that other clubs will trust her?
For all the buzz about her breakthrough and the talk of barriers being broken, of Wittmann blazing a trail, the wait for the next appointment continues. She remains one of one. “It comes down to the ones who take the decisions in the end,” she concedes.
“I am really lucky to have Didi Beiersdorfer and Ivo Grlic who put me in this position two years ago. Out of the 36 decision-makers in the first and second leagues, it is probably hard to find those one or two next decision-makers who will take those decisions.”
She adds: “There is a difference between talking to me, telling me I am doing a good job, and taking a decision. But it was not the reason I extended my contract because I am afraid of not being able to coach somewhere else. I do believe it is going to happen.
“One day it is probably going to happen that I have to leave here. Hopefully, it is because I am able to coach an even higher-ranked team. I think in five years, 10 years, whatever, things will change, not only for me but for every woman who wants to be a coach.”
