Eguavon to lead Super Eagles for AFCON qualifying matches as NFF goofs over Labbadia’s appointment

The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has made a surprising decision to appoint Augustine Eguavoen as the head coach of the Super Eagles for the upcoming AFCON qualifying matches, following a blunder in the appointment process of Bruno Labbadia.

On Tuesday morning, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, announced Bruno Labbadia as the new head coach of the Super Eagles.

The announcement came from nowhere. Before then, Labbadia had not been remotely linked with the job.

Some of the coaches in the running at the time included Swede, Janne Andersson and Frenchman, Herve Renard.

When it was obvious neither Andersson nor Renard would be feasible, the NFF began to get desperate.

Officials from the federation spoke to Greece manager, Gustavo Poyet, another former Jose Mourinho assistant, Aitor Karanka and ex-Italy defender, Fabio Cannavaro, according to the BBC.

The haphazard chase for a new Eagles handler, appeared to have ended with a terse statement from the Secretary General of the NFF, Mohammed Sanusi.

“The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to appoint Mr. Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The appointment is with immediate effect,” Sanusi said.

On Friday, however, German-based publication, Kicker, broke the news that the deal had collapsed.

The report noted that Labbadia’s “demand for payment of his taxes in Nigeria and Germany to be covered by the NFF forced the withdrawal.”

Confirming the development on Friday, the President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, said; ““We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF will agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities. It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32% to 40% of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage.

“The NFF and Mr. Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up. We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that.”

This is the third time foreign coaches have failed to coach the three-time African champions after being announced by Nigeria’s football governing body.

In 2016, Frenchman Paul Le Guen claimed he wasn’t contacted and didn’t reach any agreement with NFF before he was appointed to handle the Super Eagles.

In 1995, Brazilian Carlos Alberto Torres was named Super Eagles head coach but he didn’t resume work.

This begs the question of: why was an official announcement made when the negotiations were not completed?

current NFF board went ahead to announce a new coach without signing the dotted lines,” Victor Oluwafemi, the Content Lead at Football411 said.

“Who does that? Once again, they have portrayed themselves as disorganized and indifferent to the image of the Super Eagles team.

“I can’t remember the last time Nigeria went into a qualification campaign without a coach, be it interim or permanent.

“They had more than 70 days to appoint a manager. We will be lucky to get a win against Benin.”

Solace Chukwu, Site coordinator, AfrikFoot NG, adds: “I think it is just the latest incidence of incompetence in a body that has come to symbolise that very concept.

“With hindsight, there were red flags. But even in the best-case scenario, it was an appointment that was both late and underwhelming. Even in getting the wrong sort of coach, the NFF cannot be trusted to do it right.

“What happens from here is anyone’s guess, really.”

Meanwhile, Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Augustine Eguavoen will now take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Uyo, 7th September) and Rwanda (Kigali, 10th September).

It will be Eguavoen’s fourth stint in charge of the three-time African champions, after earlier experience in 2005-2007, 2010, and 2022.

Chukwu believes that if the former defender pulls off two good results, the narrative could change.

“I think that if he does, that may be used, in conjunction with the manner in which the Labbadia situation unfolded, to make the case for giving the job full-time to an indigenous coach, even if not necessarily Eguavoen himself,” he said.