Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has appointed Bruno Labbadia as the head coach of the Super Eagles.
The NFF, in a statement posted on its X account on Tuesday morning, sais that it has reached an agreement with the German tactician.
In the statement, NFF General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, said: “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.”
Labbadia succeeds Finidi George who stepped down from the role in June, few days after the NFF announced a plan to appoint a foreign technical adviser for the Super Eagles.
The former Enyimba FC manager, who was appointed in April 2024, managed only two competitive games as Super Eagles coach.
Like Finidi, Labbadia is a former player-turned-coach.
In his playing days, he was on the roster of FC Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, Darmstadt, Hamburger, FC Köln, Werder Bremen, Arminia Bielefeld and Karlsruher SC
Labbadia won the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in 1994.
Upon retirement, he turned to coaching and would go on to manage Darmstadt, Greuther Fürth, Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburger SV, Hertha BSC, and Wolfsburg.
His last coaching job was as manager of VFB Stuttgart. He was sacked in April 2023 after the team dropped to the last spot on the Bundesliga table.
Labbadia is the sixth German to be appointed the head coach of the Super Eagles.
He follows in the footsteps of compatriots– Karl-Heinz Marotzke, Gottlieb Göller, Manfred Höner, Berti Vogts and Gernot Rohr.
Labbadia’s immediate challenge is to take charge of the Super Eagles for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying matches. The qualifiers will kick off with a home game against Benin Republic on September 7 in Uyo, before travelling to Rwanda three days later. Four other matches to conclude the qualifying race will be played in October and November.
Benin Republic are managed by Gernot Rohr, a former Super Eagles manager. The team had defeated Nigeria 2-1 in the last round of the 2026 World Cup qualification.
