The Cameroon 2022 African Nations Cup is set to kick off less than three week (on January 9, 2022). And the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is planning to appoint a new foreign coach that will lead the Super Eagles to the tournament.
NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, said during an interactive session with sports editors on Wednesday in Lagos that the Federation has reached an advanced stage in its bid to recruit a new technical adviser for the Super Eagles. Pinnick added that the new man, a European, barring any unforeseen hiccup, will be unveiled sometime next week.
“We have our own internal process. And we are working closely with the ministry of sports and our lawyers to ensure we tidy up the situation soon.” He said.
“We have spoken to three top coaches and next week, the Federation will announce the name of the new manager.” Added NFF President.
Pinnick revealed that the NFF has interviewed the three coaches, who made the shortlist of candidates for the job.
“The thing is that every top coach wants to coach Nigeria. But our emphasis is on discipline. We have looked at the coaches’ antecedents and the technical and executive committees of the Federation have chosen from the three.”
It was reportedly revealed that among the three coaches considered for the Super Eagles’ job are Jose Peseiro and Mladen Krstajic, the latter, who, however, has joined Israeli side, Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“We want a coach that is ready for the challenge immediately. He must be somebody that the players will respect.
“I had an interface with Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho on our search for a new coach. The sports minister also spoke with Mourinho.
https://ad86b91deab93eb6677b58f080f84661.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html “Our last coach stayed up to five years, which shows that we are a steady country. We don’t want to be going back and forth. We want everything in a near-perfect situation.”
The NFF boss dispelled insinuations that the Federation does not value its Technical Director, Austin Eguavoen, saying the former Super Eagles captain has a vital role to play in the system.
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“We know that Eguavoen can do the job expertly. But we also know that he will be more useful controlling the technical department. However, if we cannot get the coaches to start work immediately, we will empower them to take the team to Cameroun. And if Eguavoen wins the Nations Cup, we might have a rethink. In that case, the foreign coach will now become the technical director, while Eguavoen takes the position of technical adviser.”