The technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will meet to decide on a new coach for the senior national team of Nigeria in the first week of next year just like we exclusively reported one month ago.
Super Eagles navigated the AFCON qualifiers with the Technical Director (TD) of the football house Austine Eguavoen in interim capacity as coach of the team. He is expected to revert to his main role after helping the team to qualification for the AFCON.
Eguavoen is expected to play a huge role in the search for a substantive coach for the team, expected to be announced before the resumption of the qualifiers for the 2026 world cup.
However while he has made it clear that he will prefer an indigenous coach with a large backroom staff, the NFF are opposed to the idea with president Ibrahim Musa Gusau already neck deep in talks with prospective sponsors who will foot the bill of a foreign coach.
“We should stay at home (for choice of head coach), but the technical crew has to be enlarged. The head coach should be home-grown because we know the situation and we feel the pulse of the people”, he said in a Christmas eve interview aired on Kennis Radio.
His take is in sharp contrast with the idea of Gusau who was clear about the identity of the proposed coach of the team, saying talks are already on to sort out the payment of a new coach for the team to bring to an end the struggle to pay the monthly due of foreign coaches by the NFF in the past.
“We are currently in discussion with Dangote Group, BUA, MTN, Baba Ijebu and others on the payment of foreign coach,” Gusau said.
“Though, Eguavoen is doing well, but if we must engage a coach, we must make sure that the issue of payment is sorted.”
Ade Emmanuel
