THE Nigeria Football Federation has resolved to employ a new expatriate coach for the Super Eagles who will either replace or presumably supervise the work of underfire head coach Finidi George.
The NFF also apologised for the poor start to the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, which has seen the three-time African champions fail to win any of their first four matches, drawing three and losing one.
The recently appointed Finidi was in charge for two of the four games, the Super Eagles drawing at home to South Africa and losing to Benin Republic in Abijdan to be stuck in fifth place in the six-team group.
Concerned by the real possibility of failing to qualify for back-to-back World Cups, the NFF made big calls at their executive meeting in Abuja, including employing a ‘technical adviser’.
“1) The Executive Committee wholeheartedly apologised to Nigerians for the dismal output and subsequent very poor returns of the Senior Men National Team, Super Eagles, in four out of 10 matches in the ongoing qualification series for the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals, and pledged to work assiduously and put necessary measures in place to ensure a better-prepared squad ahead of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers in September this year and the resumption of the World Cup qualifiers in March 2025,” the communique of the executive meeting reads.
“2) Further to (1) above, the Executive Committee resolved to employ an expatriate Technical Adviser for the Super Eagles in the coming weeks, ahead of the AFCON qualifiers and the remaining FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.”
The NFF also resolved to ‘beef up’ its technical department headed by Austin Eguavoen ‘with more qualitative hands’ and ‘rejig’ the technical and development sub-committee.
Former Super Eagles winger Finidi was initially appointed on a caretaker basis following the departure of Jose Peseiro in February and was given the job full time last month.
Under the former Ajax star’s guidance, the Super Eagles defeated Ghana and lost to Mali in friendlies before the damaging World Cup qualifying results.
The NFF was also not happy with the attitude of some of the players in preparation for the June World Cup qualifiers, with some arriving two days to the first match, two full weeks after their club matches.
“Notwithstanding the challenges that attended the team’s preparations for the Day 3 and Day 4 games of the FIFA World Cup qualifying matches, owing to a 38-hour nationwide industrial action, the Board expressed displeasure with the poor attitude of some of the players to the National Assignment, and unanimously decided in favour of a more robust scouting programme of outstanding Nigeria-eligible players from across the four corners of the universe, who can add tremendous value to the nation’s flagship team,” the communique adds.
