NFF signs German, Bruno Labbadia as 37th Head Coach

2 months ago 48

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced that it has reached an agreement with German tactician, Bruno Labbadia, to become the Head Coach of Nigeria’s Senior Men National Team, Super Eagles.

A statement by Ademola Olajire, NFF’s Director of Communications, quoted NFF General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, as saying in the early hours of Tuesday that Labbadia’s appointment was with immediate effect.

“The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to appoint Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles.

“The appointment is with immediate effect,” Sanusi said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 58-year-old gaffer was born in Darmstadt, Germany on Feb. 8, 1966.

Labbadia won two caps for Die Mannschaft in his playing career that took him through clubs such as home-town team Darmstadt 98, Hamburger SV, and FC Kaiserslautern.

Others include; Bayern Munich, FC Cologne, Werder Bremen, Armenia Bielefeld and Karlsruher SC.

He triumphed in the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich as a player in 1994.

He coached famous names Hertha Berlin and VfB Stuttgart this decade, and previously, VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen, among others, and holds a UEFA Pro License.

He is only the sixth German, after Karl-Heinz Marotzke (who had two stints between 1970 and 1974), Gottlieb Göller (1981), Manfred Höner (1988-1989), Berti Vogts (2007-2008) and Gernot Rohr (2016-2021) to lead the Super Eagles.

Höner led the Eagles to runner-up position at the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations, while Rohr qualified and led Nigeria to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

Labbadi’s immediate challenge is to take charge of the three-time African champions for two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Sept. 7 in Uyo) and Rwanda (Sept. 10 in Kigali).

Four other matches would conclude the qualifying race following in the months of October and November.

LIST OF SUPER EAGLES’ COACHES IN HISTORY

John Finch (England) – 1949

Daniel Anyiam (Nigeria) – 1954-1956; 1964-1965

Les Courtier (England) – 1956-1960

Moshe Beit Halevi (Israel) – 1960-1961

George Vardar (Hungary) – 1961-1963

Joey Blackwell (England) – 1963 – 1964

József Ember (Hungary) – 1965-1968

Sabino Barinaga (Spain) – 1968-1969

Peter ‘Eto’ Amaechina (Nigeria) – 1969-1970

Karl-Heinz Marotzke (Germany) – 1970-1971; 1974