NFF’s technical committee meets tomorrow to decide Eagles’ coach

Eguavoen

The Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) Technical Committee will meet tomorrow in Abuja to decide who, among seven shortlisted candidates, will become the new Super Eagles coach.

The Super Eagles’ top job became vacant following the expiration of Jose Peseiro’s contract after the Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, which ended in February this year.

Nigeria finished second in the championship behind hosts, Cote d’Ivoire, who defeated the Super Eagles 2-1 in the final game.

The NFF recently appointed Manu Grab as the coach of the national U-17 team, Golden Eaglets, while Ladan Bosso is still in charge of the U-20 team, Flying Eagles.

According to sources at the NFF, the federation wants to have a substantive coach in place ahead of the Super Eagles’ crucial 2026 World Cup qualifier against South Africa and Benin Republic in June.

Although they did not reveal the names of the seven shortlisted coaches for the job, The Guardian learnt that Peseiro’s former assistant, Finidi George and ex-Flying Eagles coach, Emmanuel Amunike, are on the list.

Nigeria is third in a2026 World Cup qualifying Group C that also has Rwanda, South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Benin Republic.

Nigeria started the campaign in an unimpressive fashion with draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe in November.

Rwanda leads the group with four points after two games, followed by South Africa with three points, while Nigeria is third with two points.
Lesotho (two points), Zimbabwe (two points) and Benin Republic (one point) are fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

The Super Eagles must beat South Africa in Uyo and Benin Republic to retain hope of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup in North America after missing the Qatar 2022 edition of the Copa du Mundo.