NFF Appoints Salisu Yusuf As Super Eagles Head Coach

The NFF handed Yusuf the position in its executive committee meeting on Wednesday, following Le Guen’s decision to reject the technical advisor position given to him by the football body, the Glass House confirmed in a statement.

The committee also appointed Bitrus Bewarang as technical director and Nduka Ugbade as the U17 Golden Eaglets assistant coach.

Imama Amakapabo will serve as assistant coach to Yusuf and Alloy Agu as goalkeepers’ trainer.

The NFF recommended that the head coaches of the various national teams will be on monthly salary, while assistant coaches will receive only bonuses and allowances. The assistant coaches with the NFF have been given till the end of this year to secure substantive employment elsewhere.

The organisation also gave a seven-day ultimatum to the technical and development committee to come up with a recommendation for the post of technical advisor.

The NFF earlier this week announced that former Paris St Germain, Paul Le Guen would fill the role of technical advisor to the Super Eagles, subject to agreeing personal terms, but news broke less than 24-hours later that the 52-year-old told Frenchman declined the offer.

On Tuesday, the NFF President Amaju Pinnick said that the unwillingness of Le Guen to accept targets and also reside in Nigeria caused the final negotiation to hit a deadlock.

Nigeria has been without a permanent head coach since February, following Sunday Oliseh’s resignation from the post, citing contract breaches and unpaid salaries for his decision to quit.

Yusuf had since May been in charge of the national team for Nigeria’s two friendly matches, a 1-0 victory over Mali and a 3-1 success against Luxembourg.

After missing out of next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, the Super Eagles has been drawn alongside Algeria, Zambia and Cameroon in the qualifiers for the World Cup in Russia that begins in October this year.