With barely a month to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Group D qualifiers between Nigeria and Benin, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) is sharply divided over the choice of the new manager for the Super Eagles following the resignation of Finidi George on June 15.
NationSport gathered that the NFF is finding it difficult to make a final choice between French coach Eric Chelle and Belgian Tom Saintfiet for the vacant position.
According to multiple sources, majority of the NFF’s board members have settled for Chelle, the former Head Coach of Mali due to his successful spell with the West African side where he recorded an impressive 79 percent winning ratio.
However, some fraction of the body who has the backing of an influential former NFF President, is angling for Saintfiet, the former Head coach of Gambia .
“Chelle has a win ration of 79 per cent with the Mali national team. He has knowledge of African football and can take Eagles to the next level. We can also look at other top coaches around the world but certainly not Saintfiet,” a source who is privy to the discussion stated. “In 22 games as the coach of Mali, Chelle won 14 drew 5 and lost 3, scoring 36 goals and conceding 12 goals. “
However, it was claimed that Saintfiet who led The Gambia to their first African Cup of Nations, reaching the quarterfinals has a lower goal percentage compared to Chelle and could compound the problem of the Super Eagles who has just 21 percent scoring ratio in the last one year.
Nigeria is drawn in Group D along with neighbouring Benin, Libya and Rwanda for 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification tournament.
With the double header in September where Nigeria takes on Republic of Benin between September 2 and 6 at home and away to Rwanda between September 6 and 9 ,the NFF will need to make a decision as quickly as possible.
