The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) favours the employment of a foreign coach to replace outgoing Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro as the manager of the Super Eagles.
The update was disclosed in a recent report released by Leadership, which suggests that the NFF Technical Committee may have decided to replace Peseiro with another foreign coach.
An NFF Technical Committee member disclosed the aforementioned information under the condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak on the committee’s behalf.
The Committee member said, “I have nothing against indigenous coaches, but I will say that the person we need at the moment is a foreign coach with the prerequisite experience to handle the Super Eagles. He must be the type of coach who will come and support the overall development of our football.
“The Super Eagles as presently constituted are too big for the indigenous coaches that Nigerians are clamouring for. They are not bad coaches, but they are not yet at the level at which they can effectively handle the senior national team.
“If you talk to most of my colleagues in the committee, they will tell you the same thing. Most of us are foreign coaches for the Super Eagles. I believe the NFF will see reason with some of us on this matter,” the Committee member noted.
Since Peseiro’s departure, the NFF has invited coaches to apply to take over as head coach of the Super Eagles. Antonio Conceicao, a Portuguese coach, is at the top of the list of 40 coaches who have shown interest in the position.
Conceicao is thought to be one of the coaches who has submitted his application to the NFF for consideration. Conceicao lead host Cameroon to third place at the 2021 AFCON.
There have been applications for the role from several other coaches, including Sunday Oliseh, Finidi George, Michael Nsien, Daniel Amokachi, Salisu Yusuf, Sylvanus Okpala, and Emmanuel Amuneke.