The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is leaning towards hiring a German coach as the substantive coach of the senior national team of Nigeria ahead of the start of the world cup qualifiers in March, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria prosecuted the entirety of the qualifiers for the AFCON with interim coach Austine Eguavoen successfully leading them to qualifying for the tournament next year in Morocco.
He is however expected to return to his role as the technical director of the NFF, with a foreign coach expected to lead the team for the world cup qualifiers, where they are 5th in their 6 team group and without a win in four games so far.
Trailing the leaders Rwanda by four points, the NFF have taken the search for a coach that will rescue the team to Germany, where they earlier failed to land Bruno Labbaddia.
The NFF are settling for a German because they are very particular about team organization and discipline, which has been a source of concern since the departure of former coach Gernot Rohr in 2021.
Labbaddia was announced as the new coach of the team in September, but in a dramatic twist he confirmed that the deal has collapsed following a disagreement of payment of his taxes.
It’s still unclear if he is going to be reconsidered for the job, but he certainly still has the backing of several top shots in the NFF who are of the opinion that the impasse that led to his rejection can be corrected.
They feel it’s better to resolve the issue of his tax payment rather than start an entire new process of hiring another coach, with little time left before the team resumes for the qualifiers with a game away to Rwanda.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
