Finidi George Named New Coach for Nigeria's Super Eagles by NFF

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has officially appointed Finidi George, as the new head coach of the senior men’s national team.

The decision was made public in a statement released on Monday, following the NFF Board’s approval of the recommendation put forth by its Technical and Development Committee.

George, a 52-year-old former player of Ajax Amsterdam and Real Betis, will now take charge of the team. He had previously served as an assistant to the outgoing José Santos Peseiro and took over as interim coach after Peseiro’s departure post the Super Eagles’ successful campaign in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

George recently led the team in two friendly matches in Morocco, where they secured a historic 2-1 victory against Ghana but suffered a 0-2 defeat to Mali.

“George, a member of the so-styled ‘Golden Generation’ that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Tunisia and emerged as the second most entertaining team in Nigeria’s debut at the FIFA World Cup finals in USA the same year, won 62 caps for Nigeria, including featuring at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals,” the NFF statement read.

Reflecting on his remarkable career, the statement highlighted George’s accomplishments, which encompass “gold, silver, and bronze medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000, and 2002 AFCON tournaments.”

One of the standout moments in George’s career was when he “provided the assist for the late Rashidi Yekini to score Nigeria’s first-ever FIFA World Cup goal against Bulgaria in Dallas, USA on 19th June 1994,” as mentioned in the statement.

The immediate challenge for the new Super Eagles coach will be to lead the team to victory in two crucial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and the Benin Republic in Uyo and Abidjan, respectively, over the next five weeks.

The NFF statement underscored that “these matches are must-win games, as the Super Eagles currently trail behind Rwanda and South Africa in third place in Group C of the African campaign.”