National Teams
Julius Aghahowa backs home grown coaches for national team job
By Saheed Afolabi
Former Nigerian international Julius Aghahowa has expressed strong support for appointing homegrown coaches to lead the national team, the Super Eagles, rather than hiring foreign coaches.
Aghahowa criticized the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for their decision to seek a foreign coach for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers without considering public opinion or the current financial constraints.
Aghahowa pointed out that the NFF lacks the financial capability to fund a foreign coach, highlighting past struggles with such arrangements.
He argued that the focus should shift towards appointing indigenous coaches who understand the local football scene better and can manage the national team effectively despite financial limitations.
“I think it’s what they want. So they will usually go for what they want, irrespective of what people will see or what people’s opinions will be, but I feel we have gone past that,” Aghahowa said in an interview with Brila FM.
“Right now, we should be looking inward. First of all, we don’t have money to pay foreign coaches right now. I remember how they struggled in the past.”
He emphasized the importance of promoting homegrown coaches, stating, “We should look inward and allow our homegrown coaches to coach the national team, but in the long term, if you look at the national team in the past couple of years, we don’t have the homegrown players included in the call-up.”
Aghahowa believes that involving local coaches would have a positive impact on the national team and provide more opportunities for indigenous players.
“So, I feel that if we have our homegrown coaches, that should be an opportunity for the homegrown players to be invited to the national team, so we can make our league stronger,” he concluded.
