SPORTS minister John Enoh has promised that the Super Eagles of Nigeria will have a new head coach anytime soon.
The senior men’s national team has been without a permanent head coach since the departure of Jose Peseiro in February, with ex-international Finidi George taking temporary charge for two friendly matches in March.
The Super Eagles defeated Ghana but lost to Mali in the friendly matches held in Marrakech, Morocco, and Enyimba head coach Finidi is not considered as one of the favourites to get the job.
The Super Eagles will resume their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign in June and will need a head coach in place for the key fixtures.
The Nigeria Football Federation called for applications for the position of Super Eagles head coach and there are reports of a flood of interest.
“Unfortunately, the senior national team doesn’t have a coach. We played two friendlies and had just Finidi George oversee those two matches,” Enoh told Channels Television last night.
“The responsibility of getting a coach for the Super Eagles lies with the NFF and I have been in touch with them.
“I think Nigerians didn’t expect that after AFCON and after the contract with Jose Peseiro ended and wasn’t renewed, that we would still not have a coach by now.
“But the NFF is conscious and mindful that our next qualifiers are in June. What I can assure is that in the next one or two weeks at the most, the senior national team will have a new coach.”
The Super Eagles had a dismal start to their World Cup qualifying campaign, drawing at home to Lesotho and away to Zimbabwe, leaving the three-time African champions needing to win their fixtures in the next window in June.
The AFCON 2023 runners-up host South Africa and are away to Benin Republic in June, and Enoh insists that they must not fail to qualify for the next World Cup after missing the last one.
“I think we have not had a great start. It’s a shaky one, and therefore, there is a lot to do given that we didn’t go for the last World Cup,” the sports minister noted.
“We cannot afford not to go for the next one and therefore everything needs to be done.
“Coming after AFCON and coming after we have had a tremendous show somewhat, I think everybody expects that we should be able to consolidate on that and take it from there.”
The Super Eagles are third in the six-team qualifying group, two points behind leaders Rwanda.
African qualifying group winners will head straight to the World Cup, with the four best group runners-up advancing to a play-off to determine which team will reach the inter-confederation play-offs.
