Bruno Labbadia: Again, Wobbly NFF Bungles

Since the resignation of Finidi George as Super Eagles Coach, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF’s egg heads had been in search of a new coach for the senior national team, and after failed attempt to secure the service of its number one target, two-time Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, winner-Herve Renard and second man on the list of the football governing body, former Swedish Coach, Janne Andersson, the NFF eventually claimed to have settled for two-capped German international, Bruno Labbadia as the senior men’s 37thnational team coach but the German has snubbed the job.

Bruno Labbadia’s appointment was announced by the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF in the early hours of Tuesday, saying his appointment was “with immediate effect” but without giving any details of the contract duration.

NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, said in the early hours of Tuesday: “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 appointment is with immediate effect.”

Labbadia’s immediate task was to take charge of Super Eagles 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a Group D tie home match against Benin in Uyo on September 7 and away to Rwanda three days later. And was expected to spend the rest of the year focusing on qualifying the Super Eagles for the next Cup of Nations finals, which will be hosted in Morocco in late 2025.

However, the German tactician allegedly hired by the NFF has opted against becoming the new coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, according to German publication, Kicker, online reports said.

This comes after the Nigeria Football had with certainty, Federation announced Labbadia as the new head coach.

According to the report, Labbadia and the NFF were not able to agree on final details on salary and other entitlements.

Labbadia’s appointment was disclosed in an early morning tweet on Tuesday via the NFF’s X handle, tweeting as #thenff.

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, the Super Eagles.”

“The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development subcommittee to appoint Mr. Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles,” according to the federation’s General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi.

This situation echoes past instances where the NFF prematurely announced coaching appointments.

In 2016, the federation named Paul Le Guen as technical advisor, only for the Frenchman to reject the role, citing unmet terms and conditions.

Similarly, in 2017, Randy Waldrum was announced as the Super Falcons coach, but he too declined due to unresolved contractual matters, leading to the eventual appointment of Swede Thomas Dennerby.

Even Jose Peseiro, who led Nigeria to a second-place finish at this year’s AFCON, was initially announced without finalising his contract, leading to weeks of uncertainty before he officially took on the role.

The NFF’s handling of coaching appointments has drawn criticism over the years, and the current situation with Labbadia only adds to the concerns.

Meanwhile, NFF has reacted to Labbadia’s snubbing of Super Eagles job, saying stringent regulations of German tax authorities conspired to abort the agreement between the Nigeria Football Federation and Coach Bruno Labbadia for the latter to mount the saddle as Head Coach of Nigeria’s Senior Men Team, Super Eagles. 

“We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF will agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities. It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32% to 40% of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage.

“The NFF and Mr. Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up. We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that,” President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, said yesterday evening.

In the event, Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Coach Augustine Eguavoen will now take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic in Uyo on September 7 and Rwanda in Kigali, September 10.

It will be Eguavoen’s fourth stint in charge of the three-time African champions, after earlier experience in 2005-2007, 2010 and 2022.