At last, NFF names Finidi George as Super Eagles’ head coach

Finidi George

After a long wait for a substantive coach for the senior national team, Super Eagles, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), yesterday, named former Ajax Amsterdam midfielder, Finidi George, as the team’s new head coach.

The Super Eagles’ managerial position became vacant when Portuguese, Jose Peseiro, stepped down after leading the team to the second position at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire in February.

Since Peseiro’s exit, there have been speculations as to the identity of the Super Eagles’ new helmsman, with many Nigerians campaigning for another former national team star, Emmanuel Amunike. But the NFF, yesterday, opted for continuity in picking George, who was Peseiro’s assistant during the Portuguese’ tour of duty in Nigeria.

In announcing George as Nigeria’s new head coach, the NFF said it accepted the recommendations of its technical committee, which chose the Enyimba of Aba coach over nine other applicants for the position.

George, who spent 20 months as assistant to Peseiro, took charge of the squad in interim capacity during two friendly matches in Morocco last month.
His squad edged Ghana 2-1 in the first match, ending an 18-year winless streak against the Black Stars, but then lost 0-2 to Mali in the second game.

George, a member of the so-styled ‘Golden Generation’ that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia and emerged the second most entertaining team in Nigeria’s debut at the FIFA World Cup finals in USA the same year, won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals. He also won gold, silver and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2002 AFCON tournaments.

The 52-year-old former Ajax Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Real