Sunday Oliseh, former Super Eagles skipper looks set to be named as Nigeria’s national team coach by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) following the recent sacking of Stephen Keshi.
It was reliably gathered that the 40-year-old former midfielder, who captained Nigeria and won 63 caps has been in advanced talks with the NFF on the issue. Amaju Pinnick, chairman of the NFF who is currently in London to wrap up the deal for the new Super Eagles coach told africanFootball.com the NFF want to do something different as regards the top coaching post for the Eagles by hiring a team of top coaches. “Yes I am going to have a meeting, but it’s not just with Oliseh. It’s going to be a collective meeting with others. We are setting up a team (of coaches),” Pinnick told africanFootball.com
“It could be a foreign technical assistant, it could be a consortium of coaches, but we see this as an opportunity to deviate from the norm. We want what is best for Nigeria. That is why we have been speaking to a lot of people. We do not want to go through that usual way of collecting CV’s and interviewing. We know what we want and we want to go for it,” he said.
Pinnick later said that the new coach will be revealed on Friday. He added that the deal for the hiring of a foreign coach for the Super Eagles has been concluded and that all is set for him to unveiled and to start work as soon as possible. “We have everything wrapped up for the coach who will take charge of the Super Eagles. It is a done deal and all things going as planned, we shall unveil him on Friday in Lagos.I won’t tell you who the coach is or the country he is from but just take it that we have a foreign coach for the Super Eagles. The man we are contracting is of good quality and I believe Nigerians will appreciate our choice when we unveil him on Friday,” he said.
Pinnick was in the company of the chairman of the NFF’s technical study group and former Eagles captain Austin Okocha when he announced the deal.
Highly respected as both a player and a coach, Oliseh has experience managing clubs in Belgium with Eupen and Verviétois and is currently a member of FIFA Technical Committee. He holds the UEfA Pro Licence.
During a highly successful playing career, he featured for European giants like Ajax, Juventus and Borrussia Dortmund. Oliseh was part of the Nigeria squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1994 and Olympic gold two years later. He also played at the World Cup in 1994 and 1998, helping the Super Eagles to the last-16 at both tournaments and in the latter he scored a memorable winner as Nigeria shocked Spain 3-2 in a group match.
A member of the “golden generation” of Nigerian football stars, alongside Jay-Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu and Finidi George, Oliseh has been working as a pundit and sport consultant.
Constantly mentioned as the favourite to become the new Super Eagles coach, Oliseh has turned down pleas to manage the team in the past. Oliseh had said he would rather contribute from outside than take up the full time job of leading the Super Eagles.
If Oliseh is eventually hired for the top job, he would take over from NFF technical director Shaibu Amodu and assistant coach Salisu Yusuf, who are currently in charge on an interim basis.
By Olisemeka Obeche
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