Ex-German International Named Super Eagles Head Coach

The Nigeria Football Federation has announced that it has reached an agreement with the German tactician, Bruno Labbadia, to become the Head Coach of Nigeria's Senior Men's National Team, the Super Eagles.

NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, stated in the early hours of Tuesday: "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."

Born on February 8, 1966, in Darmstadt, Germany, Labbadia earned two caps for the German national team during his playing career, which included stints at clubs such as Darmstadt 98, Hamburger SV, FC Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, FC Cologne, Werder Bremen, Armenia Bielefeld, and Karlsruher SC. As a player, he won the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in 1994. Labbadia has coached several prominent teams, including Hertha Berlin, VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, and Bayer Leverkusen, and holds a UEFA Pro License.

Labbadia is the sixth German to lead the Super Eagles, following Karl-Heinz Marotzke (who had two stints between 1970 and 1974), Gottlieb Göller (1981), Manfred Höner (1988-1989), Berti Vogts (2007-2008), and Gernot Rohr (2016-2021). Höner led the Eagles to the runner-up position at the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations, while Rohr qualified and led Nigeria to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

Labbadia's immediate challenge is to take charge of the three-time African champions for two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Saturday, September 7, in Uyo) and Rwanda (Tuesday, September 10, in Kigali), with four other matches to conclude the qualifying race following in October and November.