Wonders can never cease, especially in Nigerian Sports. Some decisions are taken in a way that such will hit the majority of the citizenry like a thunderstorm. No doubt, people are in position of authority to take decisions but it is only fair to take actions that will be obvious as being JUST.
There are many examples but I will just be direct in this piece. The Nigeria Football Federation in the past months turned deaf ears to the call to name a new Super Eagles coach. The body drafted Technical Director Austin Eguavoen to hold the fort and this dragged for so long.
During the week, one of such shocking news came that a new coach was here. Behold it is Eric Chelle.
Rather than address a world press conference to name and justify the choice of Chelle, we were slapped with a press release that did not state those Chelle beat to the job or how his choice was arrived at.
The release read: “The Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation has endorsed the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee for the appointment of Mr. Éric Sékou Chelle as Head Coach of Nigeria’s senior men national football team, Super Eagles.
“At its meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, 2nd January 2025, the NFF Technical and Development Sub-Committee had recommended the appointment of former Coach of the senior men national team of Mali as the new Head Coach of the Super Eagles.
“Chelle, who won five caps for the Aiglons of Mali and coached clubs such as GS Consolat, FC Martigues, Boulogne and MC Oran, has been Head Coach of the Aiglons since 2022.
“The 47-year-old featured for Martigues, Valenciennes, Lens, Istres and Chamois Niortais in France during his playing career.
“His appointment is with immediate effect, and he has the responsibility of guiding the Super Eagles to earn a ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals, with the next round of matches (Matchdays 5 & 6) taking place in March.”
As a stakeholder of football in the past three decades, the statistics of the new coach do not inspire me. The Super Eagles, in my view, deserve better especially with Nigeria’s chances hanging in the balance currently in the group table of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria is 5th in a group of six that has South Africa, Rwanda, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Benin Republic.
I was expecting a coach that will hit the ground running but not sure Chelle is the man. If he is the choice of the federation all along why delay till now that there are crucial games ahead. Again, this man is to be paid $55,000 monthly at a time we are crying the economy is bad and NFF is as usual broke. Wooow! It was learnt there is a sponsor but why not channel such money to better developmental initiatives. I have no issue about the coach as a Malian or black man but I have serious issues about his stats which do not reflect enough exposure to handle Super Eagles, a team with the current and immediate past African Footballer of the Year.
A member of the NFF Technical Committee, Victor Ikpeba, told me exclusively that there was a meeting and the body actually picked Chelle.
Ikpeba said: “We have been in contact with him for long and he has so much passion to handle our Eagles. We are not a racist country. Nigerian coaches have also handled national teams of Gambia, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania and Togo in the past.
“I am surprised many people are against his choice because Nigerians are accommodating people. We believe he can do the job with all of us supporting him.”
The NFF has made its choice. Though unpopular, as Nigerians we are stuck with him. The federation must support the technical crew with one or two coaches who have good knowledge of the current Eagles players. The players should also raise their game to boost the country’s chances of picking the 2026 World Cup ticket. All the administrative and logistic issues around the team must be ironed out. The outstanding bonuses and allowances of the team should be settled.
Overall, the federation should provide the enabling environment for the new coach to get results while the players should display total commitment in the quest to restore the World Cup hopes of Nigerians.
The first task of Chelle is the CHAN assignment for the home-based team and it is expected he records a good start and gets some of the best legs in the team to join the main Eagles team.
Chelle will have to disappoint me with a good performance as Eagles boss.
