NFF set to make final decision on new Super Eagles coach

About 49 days after the departure of Jose Peseiro, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is finally set to appoint a permanent manager for the Super Eagles ahead of the continuation of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

The Super Eagles have been without a head coach since March 1 when Peseiro declared his departure after the expiration of his contract. The NFF decided against extending the Portuguese contract despite surpassing their AFCON demands.

The football body declared the role open for coaches worldwide and got over 40 applications according to multiple sources.

Enyimba’s Findi George, one of the applicants, was given the green light to oversee the Eagles’ friendly matches against Ghana and Mali in March.

Short-staffed George won against Ghana and lost to Mail, in what the Eagle’s stand-in captain Kenneth Omeruo has described as a job relatively well done.

“I don’t know about everyone, but for me and a few others, he did well. He was short-staffed, only one coach working as an analyst, training without an assistant,” the Kasimpasa defender said as reported by Football411.

As it turned out, the mixed results for coach George blew the competition for the Eagles’ job open, ensuring the NFF considered other alternatives before making the final and best decision for the county’s men’s national team.

On making the best decision, one of the eight-man technical committee tasked with the responsibility told Score Nigeria, “The NFF led by the president, Ibrahim Gusau, did not teleguide us, we were allowed to do our job as best as we could.”

The NFF technical committee met in Abuja on Tuesday where they were said to have streamlined Peseiro’s potential successor to a three-man shortlist of Spanish Domenec Torrent, Portuguese Toni Conceicao and 1994 African Footballer of the Year Emmanuel Amunike.

As it were, the majority of the committee members are in support of a foreign coach appointment, but fresh reports indicate Amunike is the leading man for the role.

Conjectures over the Eagles’ next manager are expected to be wrapped up within the next 14 days according to the Minister of Sports John Enoh.

“What I can assure is that a new Super Eagles coach will be announced in the next two weeks,” Enoh told Channel Sports a few hours ago.

“The responsibility of getting a coach for the Super Eagles lies with the NFF and I have been in touch with the NFF.”

Nigeria missed out on qualifying for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, and are two points behind group leaders Rwanda after a relatively poor start to the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Amidst the foreign vs local coach saga between Nigerian football enthusiasts, the common ground remains: the NFF has to get this done swiftly and effectively, or the Super Eagles will be condemned to missing the World Cup for the second time in a row.

The country’s 36th Minister of Sports Enoh agrees, “We didn’t qualify for the last World Cup and can’t afford not to be at the next edition.

“The NFF knows what Nigeria lost, missing out on the last World Cup and the NFF is working hard. We are in constant touch.”