Burnley will have Jackie Bachteler on the touchline at Turf Moor on Sunday after a nine-month recovery from sepsis that put her in intensive care. Her return comes as the club hosts Sunderland in the Women’s Super League 2 at 14:00 BST, a match that coincides with World Sepsis Day and will mark her first time in the dugout for the team.
Bachteler, 37, arrived from San Diego to join Burnley’s coaching staff in December 2025. A few weeks into the job she became seriously unwell, suffering a rapid drop in blood pressure and dangerously low oxygen levels. After being taken to A&E she was diagnosed with sepsis and spent a couple of days in an intensive care unit while medics monitored her organs and blood frequently.
Recalling the episode, Bachteler said, "To be honest, I thought I was going to die." She described receiving lung treatment, intravenous fluids and antibiotics, and being unable to walk during the early stages of her recovery. Family were unable to travel immediately to be with her, and her wife was delayed by a snowstorm.
The illness forced Bachteler to pause her coaching work while she relearned how to walk and underwent ongoing respiratory therapy. Burnley reinstated her in July as their new women’s team manager, but she remains affected by post-sepsis syndrome, reporting dizzy spells, extreme fatigue, mental fog and occasional tremors when exhausted.
She described a recent pre-season friendly in which heat and fatigue left her so dizzy she had to sit in a cold room to recover. Bachteler credited club medical staff and the NHS with stabilising her and arranging specialist care, and praised her coaching team for covering duties while she recuperated. She said she is "about 70 to 80% Jackie again" but continues regular treatment to strengthen her lungs.
Her presence at Turf Moor on Sunday will be both a sporting milestone and a personal one, as she uses the platform to highlight the reality of sepsis and recovery. Burnley face Sunderland at 14:00 BST, and Bachteler’s first matchday back will also be framed by the wider discussion around sepsis awareness and long-term aftereffects.
