Theresa Merk is SC Freiburg’s new women’s head coach and one of two women in the Bundesliga. How did she get this far?
Theresa Merk’s rise to the top began with a setback. That was in 2007. She had just come of age and had it in her head to get her first coaching license, to lay the foundation for a successful career as a coach, at least that was the plan. The topic of their teaching rehearsal was game structure. Merk had played football herself and coached children, but she lacked the knowledge of what is important in tactical training for adults. So she failed and didn’t get her coaching license.
Dirk Mack, who tested her as the then association sports teacher of the Württemberg Football Association (WFV), no longer knows all the details of the lesson, but he remembers one thing clearly: how well Merk dealt with the setback. She took advice, analyzed mistakes, filled in gaps in her knowledge and practiced, practiced, practiced. Six months later, she passed the exam so well that she was entitled to the courses for the next higher license level. “She was undeterred,” says Mack.
Theresa Merk is “obsessed” with football
Undeterred, Theresa Merk moves 15 years later over the training ground at the Dreisamstadion. Her steps are firm, her gestures clear, her commands short and definite. She describes herself as “analytically positive”. It’s about empowering her players, motivating them, highlighting good situations and ticking off mistakes. Merk can get loud, but that’s not really her style. She likes to watch. “When you’re actively involved in what’s happening, you don’t really get the hang of some things,” she says. Dirk Mack, with whom she is in regular contact, thinks she is structured, ambitious, almost “obsessed”. “And she has the ability to get things across.”
Program tip
SC Freiburg trainer Theresa Merk will be a guest on SWR Sport on Sunday from 9:45 p.m.
She learned that early on. A football club was to be set up at her high school, but no suitable teacher could be found. So Theresa was asked. She did a student mentor training and took over the AG with a classmate. “The fact that you could give something away, but also that the people were there with so much joy and enthusiasm, that impressed me the most.”
The new head coach of SC Freiburg: young and yet very experienced
At the age of 32, she has made an impressive career. As a player, she rose to the Bundesliga with VfL Sindelfingen. But she saw no future on the pitch and didn’t feel as if she had the level to assert herself. So she decided to become a trainer. She coached the Sindelfingen U17s in the Bundesliga when she was in her early 20s. She did a master’s degree in sports management in Tübingen. She then became a sports teacher in the Mittelrhein Association.
Internship with Alexander Zorniger and the first titles
In 2019 she passed the football instructor license, the highest qualification in the German Football Association (DFB) coach training. Meanwhile she sat in on Alexander Zorniger in Bröndby. She later became an assistant coach at VfL Wolfsburg in the women’s Bundesliga, won the championship (2020), the DFB Cup twice (2020, 2021) and was in the Champions League final (2020). Last season she coached the women of Grasshopper Zurich, was in the semi-finals of the championship and in the cup final.
Theresa Merk was the only woman at the 65th football teacher training course.
An Upper Swabian at SC Freiburg: does that fit?
And now Fribourg. You like the club’s values, the idea of building teams sustainably with talent from your own youth. “I still see myself more as a developer at the moment,” she says. The Bundesliga appealed to her, saying it was more professional than football in Switzerland. The opportunity to play in the Dreisamstadion, against such a backdrop, is unique among women. “It’s really a bit of a football romance. The stadium has been around for so long, it’s gone through so many ups and downs.” But she also likes the people in Breisgau and in the club. “They are extremely likeable, not aloof,” says the Swabian, who was born in Ravensburg.
She worked successfully at Grasshopper Zurich. But it wasn’t enough for a title.
Merk wants to play courageous, attacking football in Freiburg, develop a team that has a lot of ball possession. But she wants even more: to be a role model for girls and women. “Try it, do it. If that’s your passion, don’t let anyone stop you; don’t let anyone talk you into it,” she says. She was the only woman in her soccer teacher training course. In the Bundesliga she is one of two head coaches. How can that be? “I don’t know, honestly. I don’t know. But it’s extremely unfortunate.”
Theresa Merk: Football is not a man’s thing
On her way to the top, Merk experienced how little women are trusted. “Of course there are moments where people say, ‘Wow, I didn’t expect that You you can do it that way.” She has heard stupid sayings, but she has set limits for herself when it is enough. And she can counter. In order for the situation to improve for female coaches, she thinks it is important that women also at the juniors, For example, in the youth academies, on the coaching staff, to show the children and young people early on: football is not a man’s thing.” Then you won’t be looked at so surprised when you take up such a position as a woman.” And there would be more opportunities for women to work as trainers.” Of course, this also means that you get more women who follow the path. Because if there are no positions, why should I even look for the way into this track?”
When she was a child, Theresa did figure skating. But as soon as she found out that a friend of hers was starting a soccer team, she didn’t want to dance on the ice anymore. She wanted to kick. Her mother wasn’t thrilled about it. girls playing soccer? does that fit? In the nineties, the reservations were even greater, the views even more skewed. But Theresa was undeterred.
