Oliseh, Keshi, Finidi…Spotlighting Super Eagles’ local coaches and their achievements
Finidi George has been named head coach of the Super Eagles by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF). Over the years, there have been multiple local coaches in the NFF. Here, Crispng examines each of them along with their notable achievements and reasons for departure:
FESTUS ONIGBINDE
Festus Adegboye Onigbinde was a Nigerian football coach who managed the Nigerian Super Eagles twice, in 1981 to 1984 and again in 2002.
Onigbinde successfully led Nigeria to the 1984 AFCON Final, where they were defeated 3-1 by the formidable Indomitable Lions of Cameroon. After succeeding Amadu Shuaibu as head coach of the Super Eagles, Onigbinde was also on the touchline during the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan. However, the tournament did not go as expected, as Nigeria was eliminated in the group stage with one point and without recording a single victory.
PAUL HAMILTON
The Nigerian Super Eagles hired Paul Ebiye Hamilton as their head coach in 1989, but he was fired after the team was unable to secure a spot in the FIFA World Cup in 1990.
After that, he became the coach of the female national team, leading the Falcons to their first-ever FIFA World Cup competition.
LATE SHUAIBU AMADU
Amadu Shuaibu led the Nigerian Super Eagles on several occasions for seven years. Despite the fact that he had a fairly brief reign throughout those years. Amadu Shuaibu achieved a few things with the Super Eagles, which includes: The first local coach to lead Nigeria at a FIFA Confederation Cup, qualifying Nigeria for her first ever world Cup, winning AFCON bronze with super eagles in Mali 2002 and qualifying Nigeria to her first ever FIFA world Cup in an African soil in 2010. He was later sacked in February 2010 and was appointed again as the technical Director of the Nigerian National team in May 2013.
Amadu Shuaibu also managed the super eagles in 2014 and 2015. He was reported dead on 10th June 2016.
CHRISTIAN CHUKWU
Christian Chukwu Okoro was named coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria in 2003. He guided the team to the 2004 AFCON in Tunisia, where they won bronze.
Chukwu Christian controversially received a suspension during the Germany 2006 World Cup qualifying matches and the final two “Must win” games for the Nigerian Super Eagles were played without a coach. Nigeria did not win any of the games so missed world Cup qualification for the fist time since 1994.
AUGUSTINE EGUAVOEN
Eguavoen was appointed the Super Eagles’ head coach in June 2005. He went on to win Nigeria’s third consecutive and sixth overall AFCON Bronze Medal in Egypt in 2006.
Austine Eguavoen later took over as caretaker coach in 2010 from Swedish Lars Lagerback. However, he soon resigned because he had no intention of permanently taking over the Super Eagles job for a second time.
SAMSON SIASIA
Samson Siasia was appointed the permanent replacement of Lars Lagerback on 4th November, 2010 after Eguavoen stepped down.
Siasia was relieved of his duties in 2011 after Failing to replicate his success with Nigeria U-20 and U-23 with the senior team.
He was later reappointed Coach of the Super Eagles in 2016 after the resignation of Coach Sunday Oliseh. His second tenure with the Super Eagles came to an end in 2017 when he was one of the names shortlisted to take over as coach of the Rwanda national team.
Siasia is presently receiving a lifelong ban from any football-related activities as a result of scandalous acts that FIFA has sanctioned. The ban expires in August 2024.
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LATE STEPHEN KESHI
In 2011, the former Mali and Togo manager assumed control of the Nigerian national squad. The ‘Big Boss’ as he was commonly referred to as helped the Super Eagles qualify for AFCON 2013 and led them to victory over Burkina Faso in the final, thanks to a goal by Sunday Mbah. In addition to that, Keshi made history as the first African football coach in history to qualify two African national teams for World Cup – Nigeria and Togo.
In 2013, he guided Nigeria to the FIFA Confederations Cup, where they finished with just one victory from three group matches and was unable to get the Eagles into the 2015 AFCON competition, which was hosted in Morocco.
Despite making it past the group stage of the 2014 World Cup, his contract was not renewed. His resignation was caused by issues with NFF executives and contract problems.
The big boss passed on to glory in 2016 after suffering from heart attack.
SUNDAY OLISEH
Sunday Oliseh, a former player for the Nigerian Super Eagles, led the team as a coach from 2015 to 2016. He had an impressive record of two losses in 14 games.
He led Nigeria to the Group stage of the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers, the CHAN tournament in 2016 Rwanda, and he managed an AFCON draw against Tanzania in his first game as the team’s head coach.
Sunday Oliseh made a controversial announcement about his desire to leave his position as the Eagles’ boss, citing unresolved payments, lack of support, and contractual disputes.
SALISU YUSUF
Salisu Yusuf is respected in the Nigerian professional football league, where he has grown to be an important contributor in the development of the league.
Before agreeing to join the Eagles as their manager on October 24, 2016, Salisu Yusuf spent eight years managing four teams in the Nigerian league.
Following several investigations into the status of African football, Salisu Yusuf was caught taking a cash present on July 24, 2018, in a video published by BBC Africa.Nonetheless, the BBC said in the programme that there was no proof Salisu Yusuf’s financial gain had an impact on his choices when choosing players. Salisu Yusuf later denied any misconduct, saying that the bribe had no bearing on his choice to field the players.
See also: NFF appoints Finidi George… Here’s what to know about him
