NFF appoints German Bruno Labbadia as Super Eagles Coach

Posted : 27 August 2024

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced that it has reached an agreement with German tactician Bruno Labbadia to become the Head Coach of Nigeria’s Senior Men's National Team, the Super Eagles.

NFF General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, said early Tuesday: “The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to appoint Mr. Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The appointment takes effect immediately.”

Born in Darmstadt, Germany on 8th February 1966, Labbadia, who earned two caps for Die Mannschaft during his playing career, played for clubs such as his hometown team Darmstadt 98, Hamburger SV, FC Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, FC Cologne, Werder Bremen, Arminia Bielefeld, and Karlsruher SC. He won the German Bundesliga as a player with Bayern Munich in 1994.

In recent years, Labbadia has coached notable clubs like Hertha Berlin and VfB Stuttgart, and previously VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen, among others. He holds a UEFA Pro License
.

He is only the sixth German coach, following 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 a runner-up finish 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 guide the three-time African champions in two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Saturday, Sept. 7 in Uyo) and Rwanda (Tuesday, Sept. 10 in Kigali), with four more matches remaining in the qualification race in October and November.

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-?

NFF appoints German Bruno Labbadia as Super Eagles Coach

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