Sporting Lagos FC appoints Aigbogun as Technical Director

Posted : 18 November 2023

Sporting Lagos Football Club, a side in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), announced on Friday that former Enyimba International FC Federation Cup-winning Coach Paul Aigbogun is its new Technical Director.

Aigbogun, a former head coach of the Nigeria U-20 team in the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, is a UEFA-licensed coach and has previously served as the Deputy Technical Director of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).

Over the past year, Aigbogun has worked behind the scenes and played a vital role in promoting Sporting Lagos FC from the Nigeria National League (NNL) to the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL). He was also instrumental in establishing a football academy and facilitated Sporting Lagos FC's affiliate club, Aarhus Fremad.

According to the Media Director of Sporting Lagos FC, David Odunlam, Aigbogun, as Technical Director at Sporting Lagos, will provide technical support for the senior team.

"Aigbogun will take charge of our first NPFL season. He will also work closely with our football academy and affiliate club, Aarhus Fremad.

"After a 19-year playing career that spanned several countries such as England, the USA, Wales, Ireland, and Norway, Aigbogun started his coaching career at Oldham Athletic in 2000.

Just like his playing career, his coaching career has seen him take on multiple roles — sometimes at the same club — across different continents and leagues. After his time at Oldham, he coached at Bury FC before moving to the USA to be the head coach of top-flight teams, Nevada Wonders, and San Francisco Seals.

Due to his passion for the development of football in Nigeria, Aigbogun, between 2009 and 2018, was head coach and technical director at NPFL sides, Warri Wolves and Enyimba, with a short stint as Head Coach of FC Cape Town in 2012.

While with Enyimba, he won the Nigerian FA Cup in 2013, finished second in the league in 2014, and also reached the semi-final of the CAF Champions League in 2018. He also guided Warri Wolves to the CAF Confederations Cup three times.

In 2018, he got called up to the national level as the head coach of the U-20 Men’s Team, where he qualified for the African Youth Nations Cup and reached the semi-final.

He also reached the round of 16 of the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup. In his time there, he helped the team qualify for the Morocco 2019 African Games, where they came 2nd.

In 2021, he took on the role of acting head coach when the Nigeria Men’s Senior Team faced Mexico. He was also the head coach of the Nigeria Senior National Men’s B Team.

That year, he played a vital role, as an analyst, in helping Nigeria qualify for AFCON, and was an Assistant Coach when Nigeria reached the competition’s round of 16 in 2022.

As a coach and technical director, Aigbogun also has an eye for discovering and developing talent. While scouting for the Nigerian Team for the 2019 World Cup, he discovered Fulham center-back Calvin Bassey, leading to his first international call-up.

He also played a key role in the identification and development of other players such as Victor Boniface, Oghenekaro Etebo, Valentine Ozonwafor, Sunday Mba, Akor Adams, Colin Kazim Richards, and David Nugent, among others.

Odunlami added that Sporting Lagos FC was delighted to have someone with such a rich history and knowledge of football both on and off the pitch on board the team, and the Tech Boys anticipate his continuous influence on both the first and youth teams.

Aigbogun, in response, recounted how he joined the club and his next target.

"I'm delighted to be here. We’ve achieved a lot in two years, and we’re still learning, but we’re very ambitious.

"We aim for excellence across the first team and youth levels, as well as at Aarhus. We have an outstanding team, both on and off the pitch, and we're going to push as far as we can."

On the appointment, Sporting Lagos owner, Shola Akinlade said: “Paul has been a significant part of our journey so far and we’re glad to have him on board.

"As we build the next generation of football talent, we look forward to the work he’ll do at Sporting Lagos, both at Youth and Senior levels.”

Sporting Lagos FC appoints Aigbogun as Technical Director

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