By Jennifer Amarachi
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced the appointment of Bruno Labbadia, a German tactician, as the next Super Eagles coach, effective immediately.
Labbadia’s appointment was announced in an early morning Twitter on Tuesday from the NFF’s X feed, with the hashtag #thenff.
The statement reads, “The Nigeria Football Federation has announced that it has reached an agreement with German tactician, Bruno Labbadia, to become the Head Coach of Nigeria’s senior men’s national team, Super Eagles.”
Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, the general secretary of the federation, stated that “the NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development sub-committee to appoint Mr. Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles.”
Following the resignation of Finidi George, who was named the Eagles’ coach in May 2024, Labbadia takes over as the 37th head coach of the Super Eagles.
But after two pivotal games in which he failed to lead the squad to convincing victories, they were relegated to fifth position in Group C of the 2026 World Cup qualifying tournament with three
points.
Before suffering a shocking 2-1 loss to Benin Republic in Abidjan, the Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw by South Africa.
The three-time African champions will want to increase their chances of qualifying with Labbadi’s hiring.
On September 7, the Eagles will play Benin Republic in their first African Cup of Nations qualifying match and then Rwanda, three days later.
On February 8, 1966, Labbadia, a former player for Bayern Munich, was born. Among the German teams he has managed are Darmstadt 98, VfB Stuttgart, and Bayer Leverkusen.
