June 15, 2024

Super Eagles head coach, Finidi George, has resigned after a poor run of games in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

The former Ajax Amsterdam’s forward confirmed his resignation to Channels Television.

“Yes, it is true. I have resigned,” he wrote in response to enquiries.

However, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is yet to react to this development.

Finidi led the Eagles to a 1-1 draw against South Africa at home in Uyo and a 2-1 loss to Benin Republic in Abidjan, putting Nigeria’s qualification to the World Cup in serious doubt.

The two results extended Nigeria’s winless run in the qualifiers having previously played two draws under former coach Jose Peseiro.

Following the poor performance of the Nigerian team in the two games under Finidi, there were several calls from the fans for his sack.

Hiring ‘expatriate’ technical adviser

Faced with the potential of missing out on another World Cup after the failure of Qatar 2022, the NFF and the Sports Minister had an emergency meeting with Finidi after the South Africa and Benin Republic games.

After the meeting, the nation’s football-governing body spared Finidi but revealed that it will hire an expatriate technical adviser for the Super Eagles.

It was, however, unclear what role Finidi will play in the Super Eagles going forward.

“The Executive Committee of Nigeria Football Federation held a meeting on Wednesday, 12th June 2024 in hybrid mode to deliberate on important issues in Nigeria Football and resolved as follows:

“The Executive Committee wholeheartedly apologized to Nigerians for the dismal output and subsequent very poor returns of the Senior Men National Team, Super Eagles, in four out of 10 matches in the ongoing qualification series for the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals, and pledged to work assiduously and put necessary measures in place to ensure a better-prepared squad ahead of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers in September this year and the resumption of the World Cup qualifiers in March 2025,” the NFF said.

“Further to (1) above, the Executive Committee resolved to employ an expatriate Technical Adviser for the Super Eagles in the coming weeks, ahead of the AFCON qualifiers and the remaining FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.”