THE Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has appointed Nigerian ace winger, Finidi George, as the new head coach of the country’s senior men’s national team, the Super Eagles.
The announcement, which was contained in a press statement issued by the NFF Director Communication, Ademola Olajire, said the NFF Board approved the recommendation of its technical and development committee to hand over the reins to the 52-year-old former Nigerian international and Enyimba head coach.
George, who spent 20 months as an assistant to immediate past handler of the Super Eagles, José Santos Peseiro, had been serving as the interim coach following the Portuguese departure after the team’s impressive outing up to the final of last year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire.
During his interim headship, George oversaw two friendly matches in Morocco last month, where the team ended an 18-year winless streak against Ghana with a 2-1 victory, before suffering a 0-2 loss to Mali.
The immediate task of the new Super Eagles head coach is to guide the team to victory in two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and Benin Republic in Uyo and Abidjan, respectively, in about five weeks.
Both matches are must-win, with the Super Eagles in third place in Group C of the African campaign behind Rwanda and South Africa.
George was a member of Nigeria’s ‘Golden Generation’ that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia and emerged the second most entertaining football team in Nigeria’s debut at the FIFA World Cup finals in the United States the same year.
He won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals, as well as gold, silver and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2002 AFCON tournaments.
