Senator John Enoh, the Minister of Sports, has provided reassurance to Nigerian football enthusiasts that the national men’s team, the Super Eagles, is set to appoint a new coach within the next week or two.
Following the non-renewal of Jose Peseiro’s contract post-Africa Cup of Nations in February, where the team secured a runner-up position, the Super Eagles have been operating without a permanent coach.
Finidi George, previously an assistant to Peseiro, temporarily took charge of the team for their recent friendly games against Ghana and Mali. However, the Minister has indicated that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is on the verge of announcing a full-time coach.
Senator Enoh, in an exclusive interview with Channels Television’s Sports Tonight, expressed, “Unfortunately, the senior national team doesn’t have a coach. We played two freindlies and had just Finidi George oversee those two matches,”
“The first responsibility of getting a coach lies with the NFF and I have been in touch with the NFF because I think Nigerians didn’t expect that after AFCON and after the contract with coach Peseiro came to an end and wasn’t renewed, that it will take as long and not have a coach yet.
“But NFF is conscious and mindful that our next qualifiers in June, what I can assure is that in the next one or two weeks at the most that the senior national team will have a new coach.
“My engagement and interactions with NFF suggest to me that NFF is conscious of expectations of Nigerians, they are conscious that they cannot afford to lead the country to another non-appearance at the World Cup, the NFF knows what Nigeria lost by not being at the last World Cup and they are working very hard to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
The Super Eagles’ start to the 2026 World Cup qualifiers has been less than ideal, with draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe, a situation the Minister acknowledged needs urgent improvement.
I think we have not had a tremendous start, it’s a shaky one and therefore there is a milage to cover given that we didn’t go for the last World Cup. We cannot afford not to go for the next and therefore everything needs to be done.
“Coming after AFCON and coming after we have had a tremendous show somewhat, I think everybody expects that we should be able to consolidate on that and take it from there,” Enoh concluded.
