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Nigeria’s journey to the next World Cup has hit a major roadblock, casting doubt on the decision to appoint Finidi George as head coach.
For those who believed in the former Enyimba coach, their confidence might be waning right now.
Nigeria’s players pose for a team photo ahead of the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers group C football match against Benin. (Photo by ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images)
Despite high hopes following their impressive second-place finish at the 2023 AFCON in Ivory Coast under former coach José Peseiro, the three-time African champions are now in a precarious position as they face the possibility of missing out on a second consecutive World Cup.
A Little Bit of History
In 2021, after Gernot Rohr was sacked, Augustine Eguavoen became the interim coach and led the Super Eagles to AFCON 2021, where they crashed out in the Round of 16 to Tunisia.
He subsequently failed to qualify for the World Cup, resulting in Nigeria not participating in Qatar 2022.
The aftermath of that fiasco was the appointment of José Peseiro under whom the Super Eagles failed to win their first two World Cup qualifying matches against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
He led Nigeria to a runners-up spot at the 2024 AFCON and then parted ways with the national team.
Presently under coach Finidi, the Super Eagles have now also failed to win two more matches, leaving them in 5th position with 3 points.
Struggles of Indigenous Coaches
The Super Eagles have had notable successes with different coaches: Otto Martins Glória in 1980, Clemens Westerhof in 1994, and Johannes-Franciscus Bonfrère, who won the Olympic gold in 1996 and Stephen Keshi, the only indigenous coach to win the AFCON, in 2013.
The Nigerian national team has also had several local coaches, including Augustine Eguavoen, Amodu Shuaibu, Festus ‘Adegboye’ Onigbinde, Christian Chukwu, Samson Siasia, Daniel Amokachi, Salisu Ibrahim and Sunday Oliseh with Keshi standing as a towering figure in the annals of Nigerian football, epitomizing the potential of indigenous coaching talent.
Ex Super Eagles Coach, Samson Siasia [Image: Guardian]
Nigeria has failed to qualify for the World Cup in two of the last eight editions, in 2006 and 2022.
Interestingly, on both occasions, the team was managed by local coaches; Chukwu in 2006 and Eguavoen in 2022.
Presently, with things not going in the right direction, it looks like the Super Eagles are about to miss out on another World Cup led by an indigenous coach.
Why the Quest for a Local Coach?
Keshi led the Super Eagles to glory in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, becoming only the second person to win the tournament as both a player and a coach.
Stephen Keshi led Nigeria to the 2013 AFCON and 2014 World Cup.
With this view, many Nigerians thought it was time to see an indigenous coach, having failed multiple times with foreign coaches.
With the NFF announcing Finidi as the Super Eagles coach after being an assistant for 20 months and becoming interim coach after Peseiro left, the cries of the public were heard.
To many, he was seen as “a man who knows the system and has been in the system.”
Recent Achievements of Local Coaches
In compliance with the recent achievements of local coaches with their teams on African soil, Ivory Coast’s 2023 AFCON saw a change in coaching strategy.
Jean-Louis Gasset was sacked after struggling to qualify for the Round of 16, and his assistant, Emerse Faé, took over, leading Ivory Coast to historical AFCON glory.
Similarly, Walid Regragui’s success with Morocco at the World Cup in Qatar, where the Moroccan national team became the first African nation to reach the semi-final, also highlights the potential of local coaches.
Should Finidi Be Sacked?
