Oliseh in line for Eagles job

Sunday Oliseh

The President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, held a closed door meeting with the proposed coach of the Super Eagles in London on Tuesday.

Although Pinnick spoke with The PUNCH on the telephone from the United Kingdom on Tuesday, he did not name the coach he was meeting with. Our correspondent, however, learnt that the talk was with a former Super Eagles captain, Sunday Oliseh.

The FA boss, who confirmed that he was in the UK with another former Nigeria captain, Austin Okocha for the meeting, said that the Federation had gone far with discussion and will announce the name of the coach of Friday.

He said, “By Friday we should be able to release his name officially to the public. By then, everything will have been concluded, and until then, I prefer we leave his name out. Going by what we have been able to achieve this far, we should be able to unveil him on Monday.”

Pinnick said that the Federation was able to avoid the long process of short listing managers before they are pruned to those that could meet their goals.

“It is not just about winning the Nations Cup or any other trophy but we need to develop the game in Nigeria and the way the teams are managed. I believe we’ve got a person who fits well with this ideal,” he said.

The FA boss was in Canada for the final game of the FIFA Women’s World Cup when Stephen Keshi was sacked from his position as the Eagles coach on Saturday. The NFF at the weekend also stated that Keshi’s replacement will be made public within two weeks.

Oliseh, who had for long been tipped to coach Nigeria, was part of the Nigeria squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1994 and the Olympic gold two years later in Atlanta. The Belgium-based ex-footballer also played at the USA’ 94 World Cup and the 1998 edition in France.

Oliseh’s managerial experience is based largely on what he achieved with a Belgian side Vervietois between 2008 and 2009. He, however, holds the UEFA Pro Licence.

The former board of the NFF under Alhaji Aminu Maigari held talks with him in 2011 for the position of the technical director for Nigeria but the discussion fell through. His name has been mentioned in several discussions on Nigeria football as possibly the next coach.

The former Borussia Dortmund midfielder will take over from NFF technical director Shaibu Amodu who has been put in charge of the Eagles on an interim basis.