Appoint Nigerian coach for Super Eagles – Sports administrator tells NFF

Elias Gora, a retired sport administrator, on Friday advised the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to consider appointing a Nigerian coach to manage the Super Eagles.

Gora, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Lagos, said Nigerian coaches have what it takes to do the job.

He said, “It is about time the job is done by our home made coaches who have contributed perfectly to the team.

“This is a reality, we can see other countries like Cameroon and Senegal who engaged their local coaches and they performed excellently in the past.

“It’s your own that will lead you to success; look at Cote D’Ivoire which succeeded by employing their local coach.

“There are so many Nigerians that have done that perfectly, so why are we now looking down on them presently?”

The sport administrator appealed to the NFF to look within and choose the appropriate coach for the team.

He said that a Nigerian would perform better than any foreign coach, with their valuable contributions and experiences in the past.

The NFF technical committee met on Thursday in Abuja to shortlist coaches who had applied to replace Jose Peseiro as Super Eagles coach.

The committee will also go through applications for the vacant position of the head coach of the country’s U-17 team, the Golden Eaglets.

The committee will table its recommendations before the NFF executive committee, after which the football federation will announce the successful candidates.

Nigerian coaches like Emmanuel Amuneke, Finidi George, Daniel Amokachi, Samson Siasia and Salisu Yusuf have all applied to lead the Super Eagles.

Coaches interested in leading the Golden Eaglets include Manu Garba, Nduka Ugbade and Abdullahi Biffo.