After over two months of frantic search, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Tuesday, August 27, announced the appointment of a German tactician, Bruno Labbadia, as the new head coach of the Super Eagles.
Announcing the appointment via the NFF’s X handle, #thenff, the football association said Labbadia’s appointment is with immediate effect.
The statement read: “The Nigeria Football Federation has announced that it has reached an agreement with German tactician, Bruno Labbadia, to become the Head Coach of Nigeria’s senior men’s national team, Super Eagles.”
General Secretary of the NFF, Dr Mohammed Sanusi said: “The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development sub-committee to appoint Mr Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles."
The German becomes the 37th Head Coach of the Super Eagles after the resignation of former coach, Finidi George.
Labbadia coached famous teams like Hertha Berlin and VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, and Bayer Leverkusen, among others, and holds a UEFA Pro License.
The new Super Eagles handler guided Stuttgart to a sixth-place Bundesliga finish and a spot in the UEFA Europa League.
He started his football career as a player and had an impressive record, scoring 229 goals in 599 appearances with his peak seasons being 29 goals for Arminia Bielefeld in 1998-1999 and 21 goals for Darmstadt 98 in 1986-1987.
Often referred to as a “relegation specialist” due to his consistent success in rescuing teams from relegation, Labbadia saved Hamburg in 2015 and led Wolfsburg to safety in 2018.
This is the first time Labbadia would be working outside his native Germany and it marks a significant milestone in his career and an opportunity for him to make an impact by leading Nigeria to continental and global success.
He will be overseeing Nigeria’s qualifying campaign for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, beginning with a match against Benin Republic on September 7 and another against Rwanda three days later.
Bruno Labbadia has a lot to do on his resumption including scouting new players but his first task will be to select a 23-man crack squad of the Super Eagles and fashion out a strategy to win the crucial matches.
