Ex-Super Eagles coach, Finidi George, lands new job

Few weeks after leaving his post as the Head coach of the Nigeria national team, the Super Eagles, Finidi George has secured a new job and set for a fresh challenge.

PREMIUM TIMES reliably gathered the former Ajax star has signed a contract as the Technical Manager of Nigeria Premier Football League side Rivers United, and is set to be officially unveiled by the Port Harcourt-based club.

“He (Finidi) has signed a two-year deal and would be unveiled on Thursday,” an official of the Port Harcourt-based club who craved for anonymity told PREMIUM TIMES.

Port Harcourt boy

While Finidi made waves playing for Ajax, Real Betis and other foreign clubs, he busted into the limelight from Port Harcourt playing for Sharks FC which have metamorphosed into the present day Rivers United.

This has made his appointment and impending unveiling a perfect home coming.

Previously handled by the veteran Stanley Eguma, who was sacked during the season and was temporarily replaced by Evans Ogenyi, Rivers United finished in the eighth position in the just concluded NPFL season.

This marks their worst outing in the league since they finished ninth six seasons ago.

Exceptional player and fledging coach

Finidi was a member of the so-styled ‘Golden Generation’ that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia and emerged as the second most entertaining team in Nigeria’s debut at the FIFA World Cup finals in the USA the same year.

He won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals. He also won gold, silver, and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000, and 2002 AFCON tournaments.

Before taking the national team job, Finidi was in charge of Enyimba International in the Nigeria Premier Football League.

He won the NPFL title in his second season with the People’s Elephant.

He will be hoping to replicate the same with Rivers United, who emphatically won the league in the 2021/22 season.