The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced former Super Eagles winger Finidi George as the substantive head coach of the senior national football team, Super Eagles. He will assume the position left vacant after Jose Peseiro’s contract expired in March.
The NFF made this known via a letter sent out by the communications officer Ademola Olajire who confirmed that Finidi will be in charge of the Super Eagles as they restart World Cup qualifiers in June.
If you recall,Finidi George assisted former coach Peseiro for 20 months during which the Eagles reached the final of the recently concluded 2023 AFCON in Ivory Coast.
Finidi was also in charge of two friendly matches in the March FIFA window,where the Eagles recorded a win and defeat to Ghana and Mali, respectively.
Finidi,who is one of Nigeria's greatest winger,was a member of the ‘Golden Generation’ that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia and emerged as the second most entertaining team at the FIFA World Cup finals in the USA the same year. That was Nigeria’s first participation at the World Cup.
He won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals. He also won gold, silver and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2002 AFCON tournaments.
The 52-year-old former Ajax Amsterdam (The Netherlands) and Real Betis (Spain) forward, made a scoring debut for his fatherland in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Burkina Faso at the National Stadium, Lagos on 27th July 1991. He featured for Calabar Rovers and Sharks FC in the domestic scene before heading to Europe.
He assisted the late Rashidi Yekini to score Nigeria’s first-ever FIFA World Cup goal against Bulgaria in Dallas, USA on 19th June 1994.
