# Women in German Bundesliga management

> Live situation record from CLSTR: https://clstr.news/situations/women-in-german-bundesliga-management
> Updated: 2026-09-25T10:11:48.000Z. Sources: 10. Developments: 2.

A report by the organization ‘Fußball kann mehr’ (FKM) indicates a slight increase in female representation within top management positions in the German Bundesliga (1. and 2. Liga). For the 2025/2026 season, women held 9.6 percent of the 94 top management positions, rising from 6 percent the previous year.

Notable appointments include Tatjana Haenni as the first female CEO of a Bundesliga club at RB Leipzig, Marie-Louise Eta as the first female coach for a men’s team at Union Berlin, and Kathleen Krüger joining the board at Hamburger SV. Other appointments include Svenja Schlenker at Borussia Dortmund and Jennifer Zietz and Katharina Kienemann at Union Berlin.

Despite these milestones, the industry remains largely male-dominated, with 29 of the 36 surveyed clubs maintaining exclusively male management at the highest operative level. Katja Kraus, a co-initiator of FKM, noted that while these appointments are significant, they do not yet constitute “broad systemic change across the league.”

## Timeline

### 2026-09-25: ZDF reports record high for women in leadership roles

ZDF reports a record 47.6 percent of its leadership positions are held by women, surpassing the 30 percent average in the German media sector.

2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/zdf-reports-record-high-for-women-in-leadership-roles

### 2026-08-26: Bundesliga women in top management roles see slight increase

The share of women in top management roles in the German Bundesliga rose to 9.6 percent for the 2025/26 season, up from 6 percent, according to a new report by the ‘Fußball kann mehr’ initiative.

8 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/bundesliga-womens-representation-in-top-management-reaches-96-percent

---
Cite as: Women in German Bundesliga management. CLSTR, https://clstr.news/situations/women-in-german-bundesliga-management
