Skip to main content

NFF Exco, tech committee meet over Eagles coach

President of the Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick
Pius Ayinor
The Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation and the Tecnical Committee of the body have confirmed a joint meeting for Friday (today) to decide on a new Super Eagles coach.
The NFF president Pinnick Amaju told The PUNCH on Thursday that it was only after the meeting that a very clear picture can emerge on the direction the federation was facing concerning the next person to man the Eagles bench.
He said, “We are meeting tomorrow (Friday) with the Technical Committee and it is after we agree on certain things that a clear statement can be made.”
A member of the committee, Paul Bassey, who also spoke with our correspondent and confirmed the joint meeting, had said in a previous interview that the NFF boss had called for urgency in confirming a coach in view of the situation on ground.
“A lot of work has been done and a lot is being done. I sincerely believe that a quick decision can be reached based on what we already have on the table,” he said.
The federation we learnt targeted to get a coach just before the draw for the 2018 World Cup was held last week.
The NFF had almost announced former France U-23 coach Paul Le Guen as the replacement for Sunday Oliseh before it was held back largely due to the uncertainty in securing regular flow of hard currency for his salary. The sports minister Solomon Dalung’s intervention also slowed down the process as he challenged the NFF to prove to him that it was poor coaching that made Eagles to fail on the road to the 2017 African Cup of Nations. He also queried how they would raise money to pay the foreigner – a question he also raised this week.
Last month The PUNCH had learnt from an authority in the football house that the federation would settle for a coach from within the old Yugoslavia region.
“What the country needs now is a coach without a big name; somebody without a huge CV that is desirous to work hard and earn himself a huge name for a bigger platform. That worked with (Clemens) Westerhof and that is the direction we are looking. And that is part of the reason we did not continue with the French guy,” the official said.
But as at Thursday, information available from Abuja office of the federation is pointing in the direction of Le Guen.
The 2018 World Cup qualifiers will kick off in October.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wimbledon: Kerber defeats Halep to make semi-final

AFP Germany’s Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber reached her second Wimbledon semi-final on Tuesday to edge closer to the world number one spot. The fourth-seeded left-hander emerged victorious over Simona Halep, the fifth seed from Romania, 7-5, 7-6 (7/2) and will face either Venus Williams or Yaroslava Shvedova for a place in Saturday’s final. Kerber, who was also a semi-finalist in 2012, is now in sight of becoming the new world number one although she needs to win the title while seeing Serena Williams fail to make the semi-finals.
Post a Comment
Read more

Abesan Cup enters s’final stage

Last year’s finalists Rozie FC of Aboru will battle Crystal of Ijeshatedo in one of the semi-final matches of the Abesan Cup at the Keda pitch in Ipaja, Lagos, on Saturday, as they aim to emerge champions of the highly-rated grassroots football competition. The second semifinal is between Golden Boys of Iyana Ipaja and debutants Junioru United of Ijegun. Both games would be preceded by a novelty match between  organisers of the event led by its coordinator, TayoAdeyemo and coaches and team managers of participating teams. The novelty match, which started in 2010, is meant to foster a healthy relationship between organisers and team owners. To reach this stage, Golden Boys edged out Global 3-0 in the quarter-final, while United beat defending champions Onigando Football Academy 2-1.
Post a Comment
Read more

IYC begs Buhari to act on his appeals to end militancy

OVIE OKPARE, WARRI The umbrella body for Ijaw youths, Ijaw Youth Council has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to act on his appeals to Niger Delta militants to halt hostilities by personally kick-starting the dialogue process with stakeholders in the region. A statement signed by the spokesman for the group, Eric Omare, on Sunday, stressed that only a genuine and serious engagement with Niger Delta people would address the recurring agitation from the people. The group which was reacting to recent appeal by the President, urging the rampaging militants to embrace and halt further attacks on oil facilities in the region, said multiplicity of new militant group was not a barrier to achieving peace if the government was sincere. It maintained that for a lasting peace to be achieved in the region, President Buhari must been seen leading such discussion, citing instance of his predecessors rather than sending surrogate to negotiate on his behalf. The IYC statement read, “Th...
Post a Comment
Read more