Brisbane Roar Renews Deal with Carina Leagues Club

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Brisbane Roar have confirmed their renewed their collaboration with Carina Leagues Club this month ahead of the 2025/26 season.

Carina Leagues Club, located in Carina, Queensland, is a prominent sports bar and bistro recognised for its longstanding commitment to community sport. The club has a proven track record of supporting soccer and other local sporting organisations, reinforcing its role as a valued partner in the growth and sustainability of grassroots sport in the region.

Since starting as a junior football club in 1958, the club have fundraised and participated in community sports and events, advertising on their website having 130 clubs and partnerships in 2024, many of whom are local women’s sports clubs in different levels and age groups.

In 2023, Carina Leagues Club donated $1.5 million to community groups, charities and athletes as an investment into local sport.

Brisbane Roar CEO, Kaz Patafta mentioned he is grateful for the continuation of the club’s partnership.

“They are extremely passionate about their work in the community and support of female football, making this the perfect partnership for both,” he said via press release.

“With several exciting players set to join the women’s program this season and the continued leadership of head coach, Alex Smith we look forward to having Carina Leagues Club journey with us through the 25/26 season.”

Carina Leagues Club Chairman, Wade Core emphasised on building on its dedication to supporting the women’s game.

“Carina Leagues Club is proud to renew its sponsorship of the Brisbane Roar women’s team for the 2025/26 season. This continues the club’s, long standing support of female athletes in pursuit of their dreams,” he said via press release.

Research from the University of South Australia found cities and communities who host major women’s sporting event have an uptick in tourism and economic growth.

The researchers analysed Australian host cities during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, recording a generated economic impact of $1.32 billion. The semi-final between Australia and England had the largest view audience with approximately 11.2 million viewers.

The partnership began October last year with Carina Leagues Club placing in the Silver Partner tier alongside Brisbane Airport and Elite Supplements.

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Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

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Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

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In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

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