The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have taken a turn to Germany again as they announce Bruno Labbadia as the new head coach of the men’s football senior team, the Super Eagles.
With about two weeks to the start of the qualifiers for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, Bruno Labbadia becomes the 37th coach of the Super Eagles and the 6th German to manage the team.
Labbadia’s predeccessors include Karl-Heinz Marotzke (who had two stints with the Super Eagles between 1970 and 1974), Gottlieb Goller (1981), Manfred Honer (1988-1989), Berti Vogts (2007-2008) and the most recent, Gernot Rohr (2016-2021)who led the team to 3rd place finish at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
According to a reliable source, the Nigeria Football Federation has interviews with former Italian captain, Fabio Cannavaro, former Brighton, Sunderland and Greece coach, Gus Poyet, and Jose Mourinho’s former assistant manager at Real Madrid, Aitor Karanka before appointing Labbadia.
The football body had initially held talk with French manager and two-time AFCON winner Herve Renard and former Sweden coach Janne Andersson.
Herve Renard, after being offered a lucrative contract failed to make arrangements to sign his contract while Janne Andersson couldn’t take the job until November due to “personal commitments”.
Bruno Labbadia is saddled with the responsibility ensure that the Super Eagles qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after a poor start to the qualifiers.
A seemingly easy group (South Africa, Benin Republic, Rwanda, Lesotho and Zimbabwe) has become difficult after the team picked three points after four games.
He’s also expected to have a good start to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers as the Super Eagles take on Benin Republic and Rwanda next month.
Unfortunately, the Labbadia has very little time to familiarize himself with the players but football-loving Nigerians would expect instant results following recent poor results.
