Nigeria Football Federation, NFF has appointed Germany’s Bruno Labbadia as new Super Eagles’ head coach.
The pronouncement was made in the wee hours on Tuesday via an NFF official press release.
According to a media release issued by the NFF: “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.”
With this development, Labbadia will fill the vacuum left by former Super Eagles winger, Finidi George who resigned his appointment as head coach after just two matches in charge.
Labbadia’s immediate task is to foresee the three-time African champions in two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic on Saturday 7th September in Uyo and Rwanda on Tuesday, 10th September in Kigali, with four other matches to conclude the qualifying race following in the months of October and November respectively.
The German gaffer will also be expected to turn around Nigeria’s 2026 world cup qualifying campaign which is in tatters with just six matches left to play. The Eagles is precariously languishing in fifth position in a Group C that has South Africa, Zimbabwe, Benin Republic, Rwanda and Lesotho.
Labbadia was born in Darmstadt, Germany on 8th February 1966.
He won two caps for Die Mannschaft in his playing career that took him through clubs such as home-town team Darmstadt 98, Hamburger SV, FC Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, FC Cologne, Werder Bremen, Armenia Bielefeld and Karlsruher SC.
He however shone in the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich as a player in 1994.
As a coach he handled team’s such as Hertha Berlin and VfB Stuttgart in recent time and in the past VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen, among others.
He holds a UEFA Pro License.
