By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced the appointment of Mali’s Éric Chelle as the new head coach of the Super Eagles, ending months of wait for a permanent boss for the national team.
“The executive committee of the NFF 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’s national football team, Super Eagles,” the NFF said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Super Eagles have been without a known head coach since former manager Jose Peseiro was sacked following the conclusion of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast early last year.
Ex-Nigerian international Augustine Eguavoen served as the team’s interim head coach through the first stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and oversaw Nigeria’s qualification for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations last year.
“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. This recommendation was on Tuesday, 7th January, endorsed by the NFF Executive Committee,” the NFF added.
Chelle’s immediate task would be to ensure Nigeria qualify for the 2026 World Cup, which is definitely an almost impossible job, given that the Eagles currently sit fifth on the Group C qualifying table and must win all their remaining matches in the qualifiers to have any hope of participating in the tournament.
Do they (NFF) knows what they are doing there? does the man giving the job of coaching super eagles has the charisma and the capability to make super eagles soar like an eagle.
A very stupid decision. A whole Nigeria that a common Malian to be appointed as its national coach is a slap on our reputation as African football powerhouse. It shows that we have blind and abundantly irresponsible persons piloting football in this country. Shame on them.
My comment is in the appointment of Eric Chelle,for the super eagles job does it mean no Nigeria is qualified enough?