The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has terminated the appointment of the head coach of the Super Eagles, Franco-German Gernot Rohr and announced the appointment of former captain of the team, Augustine Eguavoen as interim technical adviser.
Eguavoen was serving as the Technical Director of Super Eagles before his current appointment as Technical Adviser of chief coach the Super Eagles on an interim basis.
Rohr, who has been in charge of the Super Eagles, the three-time African champions for the past 64 months, is Nigeria’s longest–serving manager.
According to local media reports on Monday, the termination of the contract of Rohr was the outcome of the virtual meeting of the NFF Executive Committee on Sunday, which decided that Eguavoen would work with a team of staff, which includes Salisu Yusuf (Chief Coach); Paul Aigbogun (Assistant Coach); Joseph Yobo (Assistant Coach); Dr Terry Eguaoje (Assistant Coach) and Aloysius Agu (Goalkeeper Trainer).
Former Nigeria captains Augustine ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu and Garba Lawal have also been appointed to provide technical and ambassadorial support for the crew.
“The relationship between the Nigeria Football Federation and Mr Rohr has come to an end. We thank him for his services to the Super Eagles and Nigeria.
“We also want to thank the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports for their collaboration and guidance all through,” the reports quoted the General Secretary of the NFF, Dr Mohammed Sanusi as saying.
Eguavoen, a former captain of the squad, was coach of the Super Eagles when it finished in third place at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt in 2006. He was captain of the squad when the Super Eagles lifted the Africa Cup for the first time on away ground in Tunisia 27 years ago.
Eguavoen will now take charge of the team as it begins preparations for the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations being hosted by Cameroon in January 2022, until the NFF appoints a substantive Head Coach.
Meanwhile, many football analysts have on Monday morning criticized the NFF for the decision, describing it as counter-productive as it is capable of negatively affecting the ongoing preparations for Africa Cup of Nations tournament, which is less than a month away and the last stage of the World Cup qualifying series.
GIK/APA