The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has revealed why the football body chose Finidi George as Super Eagles head coach over other applicants.
The NFF Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire, said Finidi George became the best fit for the Super Eagles job because he spent 20 months with the team as the assistant coach to Jose Peseiro.
During that period, Finidi was part of the coaching crew that qualified Nigeria for the 2023 AFCON and also led the country to finish second in the tournament on February 11, 2024.
The fact that the Super Eagles have two must-win 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification games against South Africa and the Benin Republic in five weeks made him even more qualified for the job since he has a strong relationship with the current crop of players.
“I’m not a member of the Technical Committee but I can also look at a lot of positives around Finidi George.” Olajire told Hotspots.
“Finidi George was not only a great football player, he has prepared himself very well and done himself no harm with the laurels he has been able to acquire in his short period as a coach
“About the Super Eagles, he worked for twenty months as an assistant with Jose Peseiro, which gives him a head start over anybody. He worked closely with the team, was with the team when they qualified for the AFCON and came second at the AFCON.
“It’s natural that someone of this stature, someone who has accomplished these things and who has been very close to the team gets the nod, with the fact that we have only five weeks to to very important matches.”
Note that Finidi George’s first experience as a head coach was recorded at Enyimba of Aba ahead of the 2021-2022 season. In the following season in charge of the team, he led them to win the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL)
Currently, Enyimba are third on the league table with 53 points in 32 games, four points below first-placed Enugu Rangers.
According to Olajire, Finidi George had the option of staying in Europe where he played most of his club football career but he decided to return to Nigeria to showcase himself as an elite coach.
“He had the option of remaining in Spain and taking up an appointment with a second-tier club but he chose to come back to Nigeria and start with an NPFL club”, the NFF Director of Communications said.
“He started with Enyimba. In his second season, he won the league title. It is not easy to win the league title so we must praise him for that and looking at the log now, this is his third season with the team and with four matches to go he’s well on the way to retaining the title.
“That is no mean feat and it shows that this is a man who knows what he’s doing.”
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