Before the announcement of German tactician, Bruno Labbadia, two coaches were at the verge of being announced as the replacement of Finidi George, the erstwhile Eagles Coach.
Coaches such as; Eric Challe, Tom Saintfiet, Antonio Caiceicao, Herve Renard and recently, Janne Andersson had been linked to taking over as the Super Eagles managers but none of them got the NFF’s nod.
On Tuesday morning, the Nigeria Football Federation announced the appointment of Bruno Labbadia as the coach of the three times African champions, the journey which started when Team Nigeria went to Germany for Training Tour ahead of the 2024 Olympics in France.
A reliable source said that top ministry official who was in Germany during the training tours worked with the NFF in helping the former FC Stuttgart manager in beating others to the top job.
On two different occasions, it was learnt, the NFF had been told to stop announcement of two different coaches before the news of the German tactician broke on Tuesday. The excuse according to our source, was that, Super Eagles are on the verge of non-qualification for the World Cup (back-to-back) and this comes at a time, Nigerians desperately need something to smile about after the abysmal outing of Team Nigeria at the 2024 Olympics.
“The Ministry of Sports influenced the decision of the NFF in the employment of Super Eagles Coach, Bruno Labbadia.” The source began.
“On two occasions when the federation was about to announce two different Coaches, there were directives to stop the announcements particularly after abysmal performance of Team Nigeria at the Olympic Games. We are all aware of the aftermath of Nigeria participation at the Olympic Games, the Ministry of Sports needs great performances from the Paralympics (which commences this week) and the Super Eagles winning their next two matches to turn things around.
He continued, “Following couple of bad results during the short stint of Finidi George, the sports ministry is not comfortable with Austin Eguavoen leading the Super Eagles again.
“To this end, a top ministry official played a vital role in the appointment of Bruno Labbadia. And it all started when Team Nigeria was on training tour in Germany ahead of the 2024 Olympics.
Efforts to get response from the ministry proves abortive as messages sent to the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh didn’t get response.
Bruno’s first international assignment starts with leading the Super Eagles against Benin Republic on 7th September in Uyo and getting a reasonable result on the road against Rwanda on 10th September, 2024 .
