Title: Football Player Parts Ways with Advisor Over Gender-biased Remarks
The informal and straightforward approach finds Kevin Schade, a 21-year-old national player with three international caps for FC Brentford, ending his partnership with his advisor, Maik Barthel. The motive? Barthel's derogatory tweets about Union Berlin's new assistant coach, Marie-Louise Eta.
Barthel posted an insensitive tweet last week, stating that "An assistant coach should sometimes be in the team's dressing room? Please don't drag German soccer through the mud. It's already disappointing with the dismantled team hierarchy due to transfers and we don't need any extra drama."
Due to the public outcry, Barthel decided to retract the post with an attempt to soften his stance by tweeting, "I need to rephrase it. It's not helpful to make a female co-coach an issue when attempting to resolve the broken team hierarchy."
By this point, damage was already done. Many users accused Barthel of perpetuating gender bias, as highlighted by a comment under the tweet: "Women can only clean up the house, right Maik?" and "There aren't any male coaches in women's soccer, are there? How archaic is that?"
Consequently, it seems that Kevin Schade agreed with these sentiments and decided to sever ties with Barthel. According to Sky, Schade stated, "I have decided to part ways with my advisor because I completely disagree with his viewpoint and it is unacceptable for me to associate with it. I advocate for openness, equality, and diversity in how I represent myself."
Last Wednesday, Marie-Louise Eta made history as the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history, taking the helm at Union Berlin alongside Marco Grote, following Urs Fischer's departure.
Despite the positive impact of Eta's appointment, Barthel's controversial tweets caused a stir, with Schade choosing to align himself with gender equality and openness in the world of football.
