One month to the day he was officially unveiled, Nigeria have decided to move away from coach Finidi George as the main driver of the side, and opted to hire a foreign technical director for the men’s national team.
An emergency meeting of the NFF Executive Committee on Wednesday was followed by a statement announcing the decision.
“The Executive Committee resolved to employ an expatriate Technical Adviser for the Super Eagles in the coming weeks, ahead of the AFCON qualifiers and the remaining FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.”
This comes in the wake of disappointing results and performances in two World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and Benin Republic in CAF’s second window of 2026 World Cup qualifying.
It is unclear as yet what happens with George. There was no mention of whether or not he was fired. However, a top official, who did not want to be named, told ESPN that the federation is hiring a Technical Adviser, and George would remain as head coach, if he so chooses, in what would essentially be a demotion.
Nigeria, one of the favourites in the group along with South Africa, have only managed a measly three points from four matches after a 1-1 home draw against South Africa was followed by a damaging 1-2 loss at Benin Republic, ironically coached by former mentor Gernot Rohr.
After consecutive 1-1 draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe respectively under Jose Peseiro, George’s appointment was expected to right the ship in this window, with wins from both games, but that was not to be and a return of one point from six have left the Super Eagles chances of making it to the World Cup in serious jeopardy.
George is not alone in taking flak. The players also came in for some uncharacteristically harsh criticism from the NFF after a bunch of them reported late to training camp in the build up to the games.
