Sports Minister John Enoh promises announcement of Super Eagles coach soonest

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

With the position of head coach for Nigeria’s senior men’s national team vacant, Sports Minister Senator John Owan Enoh has promised Nigerians that a new coach will be announced very soon.

Since the resignation of former coach, Finidi George after guiding the team to a point against South Africa and Benin Republic which put the team’s qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in jeopardy, the Super Eagles are without a coach.

Enoh, while addressing a media parley in Abuja on Thursday, said the issue of coach for the Super Eagles is a very technical issue that he’s already discussing with the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) but quickly added that the buck stops on the table of the football house to come up with not just a quality coach but whose at the mention of his name, football-crazy Nigerians will heave a sigh of relief.

“The issue of coach (for Super Eagles) is very important. It’s a very technical issue. The search for the Super Eagles coach is still in progress. When the time comes, the name will be known to Nigerians not through me but the NFF. But definitely, I’m engaging the NFF on this.

“What I know is that I urged the NFF to get Super Eagles a good, capable coach who will against all odds get the country the tickets to the 2026 World Cup as well as the next African Nations Cup. We must have a very good quality coach who at the announcement of his name, Nigerian’s confidence will be restored.”

Numerous foreign coaches have been linked with the job but the NFF has yet to decide on who the cap fits.

Ahead of the qualifiers for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), it is imperative for a new head coach to be named in decent time.

Finidi took over from Jose Peseiro who led the team to a silver medal at the 2024 AFCON in Cote D’Ivoire.