FORMER Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has signed his contract to take over the reins of the Republic of Benin national team.
The German completed the paperwork last night after meeting with representatives of the Federation Beninoise de Football.
Rohr, 69, signed a three-year contract to coach the senior national team of Nigeria’s neighbours, with the deal expected to last until the 2026 World Cup.
He had been linked with the Cheetahs job since February but the move was only confirmed yesterday.
Rohr was already in Benin for several days before yesterday’s formal signing and his first assignment is the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying double-header against Rwanda on Wednesday and March 27.
He is now working with his fifth African national team after handling Gabon, Niger Republic, Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
The former Bordeaux defender and head coach handled the Super Eagles from 2016 to 2021 but did not win any major honours for the West African giants.
Rohr steered the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, where they did not survive beyond the the group stages after winning one match against Iceland and losing to Croatia and Argentina.
He also oversaw the qualification of the team to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (which was held in Cameroon in January and February 2022 due to the Covid-19 disruptions) but he was sacked before the tournament over poor results.
Rohr, who led the Super Eagles to third place at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, was replaced on a temporary basis by former captain and head coach Austin Eguavoen.
The short tenure of Eguavoen ended in disaster, with the Super Eagles having their worst AFCON in recent years by crashing out in the round of 16 in Cameroon and failing to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup after being eliminated by Ghana.
