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The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has reached an agreement with German tactician, Bruno Labbadia, to become the Head Coach of Nigeria’s Senior Men National Team, Super Eagles. Labbadia will become the 37th Head Coach of the Nigerian Super Eagles.
A statement by Ademola Olajire, NFF’s Director of Communications, quoted NFF General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, as saying in the early hours of Tuesday that Labbadia’s appointment was with immediate effect.
“The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to appoint Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The appointment is with immediate effect,” Sanusi said.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports 58-year-old Labbadia was born in Darmstadt, Germany on February 8, 1966. He won two caps for Die Mannschaft in his playing career that took him through clubs such as home-town team Darmstadt 98, Hamburger SV, and FC Kaiserslautern. Others include; Bayern Munich, FC Cologne, Werder Bremen, Armenia Bielefeld and Karlsruher SC. He triumphed in the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich as a player in 1994.
Labbadia has coached famous names Hertha Berlin and VfB Stuttgart this decade, and previously, VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen, among others, and holds a UEFA Pro License.
He is only the sixth German, after Karl-Heinz Marotzke (who had two stints between 1970 and 1974), Gottlieb Göller (1981), Manfred Höner (1988-1989), Berti Vogts (2007-2008) and Gernot Rohr (2016-2021) to lead the Super Eagles. Höner led the Eagles to runner-up position at the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations, while Rohr qualified and led Nigeria to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.
Labbadia’s immediate challenge is to take charge of the three-time African champions for two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (September 7 in Uyo) and Rwanda (September 10 in Kigali). Four other matches would conclude the qualifying race following in the months of October and November.
Bruno Labbadia managerial career:
- Darmstadt 98: 2003-2006
- Greuther Fürth: 2007-2008
- Bayer Leverkusen: 2008-2009
- Hamburger SV: 2009-2010
- VfB Stuttgart: 2010-2013
- Hamburger SV: 2015-2016
- VfL Wolfsburg: 2018-2019
- Hertha BSC: 2020-2021
- VfB Stuttgart: 2022-2023
SEE FULL LIST OF SUPER EAGLES’ COACHES IN HISTORY
- John Finch (England) – 1949
- Daniel Anyiam (Nigeria) – 1954-1956; 1964-1965
- Les Courtier (England) – 1956-1960
- Moshe Beit Halevi (Israel) – 1960-1961
- George Vardar (Hungary) – 1961-1963
- Joey Blackwell (England) – 1963 – 1964
- József Ember (Hungary) – 1965-1968
- Sabino Barinaga (Spain) – 1968-1969
- Peter ‘Eto’ Amaechina (Nigeria) – 1969-1970
- Karl-Heinz Marotzke (Germany) – 1970-1971; 1974
- Jorge Penna (Brazil) – 1972-1973
- Jelisavčić ‘Father Tiko’ Tihomir (Yugoslavia) – 1974-1978
- Otto Glória (Brazil) – 1979-1982
- Gottlieb Göller (Germany) – 1981
- Adegboye Onigbinde (Nigeria) – 1983-1984; 2002
- Chris Udemezue (Nigeria) – 1984-1986
- Patrick Ekeji (Nigeria) – 1985
- Paul Hamilton (Nigeria) – 1987; 1989
- Manfred Höner (Germany) – 1988-1989
- Clemens Westerhof (Netherlands) – 1989-1994
- Amodu Shaibu (Nigeria) – 1994-1995;1996-1997; 2001-2002; 2008-2010
- Johannes Bonfrere (Netherlands) – 1995-1996; 1999-2001
- Philippe Troussier (France) – 1997
- Monday Sinclair (Nigeria) – 1997-1998
- Bora Milutinović (Yugoslavia) – 1998
- Thijs Libregts (Netherlands) – 1999
- Christian Chukwu (Nigeria) – 2002-2005
- Augustine Eguavoen (Nigeria) – 2005-2007; 2010; 2022
- Berti Vogts (Germany) – 2007-2008
- Lars Lagerbäck (Sweden) – 2010
- Samson Siasia (Nigeria) – 2010-2011; 2016
- Stephen Keshi (Nigeria) – 2011-2014; 2015
- Sunday Oliseh (Nigeria) – 2015-2016
- Gernot Rohr (Germany) – 2016-2021
- José Peseiro (Portugal) – 2022-2024
- Finidi George (Nigeria) – 2024
- Bruno Labbadia (Germany) – 2024-?