Labbadia Who Initially Rejected NFF Appointment, Announces Self As New Super Eagles’ Coach
A German tactician, Bruno Labbadia has reannounced himself as the next head coach of the Nigerian National Football team, Super Eagles.
This was disclosed in his recent post on Instagram on Friday, a few days after the football coach rejected his earlier appointment with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF).
A report published by Kicker in August wrote: “Bruno Labbadia will not be the new national coach of Nigeria. The 58-year-old German football coach had been negotiating with the Africans for a week and, according to information from Kicker, decided against a contract on Friday.”
Ibom Focus learnt that the NFF announced the coach without a signed and sealed contract in August.
The coach, in what appeared to be a new twist to his agreement with the NFF, hinted to his followers on social media that his next place of work would be Nigeria.
He wrote: “New Chapter 🇳🇬”
The NFF has yet to issue any official reaction to the coach’s post.
However, this disclosure has received a series of backlash from Nigerians who expressed the view that the coach is not good fit for the Super Eagles.
An Instagram user, nonsofrankie wrote: “Nff announce their own appointment, the man deny them. Now the man don use him hand announce him own appointment. Time for Nff to deny am too.”
Another Nigerian, pal_jerry said: “We don’t need you……we are okay with Eguaveon and if Eguaveon is not ready, we have Siasia. What Siasia has achieved in international football as a coach, you are yet to get close. So rest.”
Findings about the managerial stats and experience of the German coach showed that his appointment fell short of what the NFF promised the over 200 million citizens after they allowed Jose Peseiro to leave in March.
His records show that he has been dismissed from several managerial positions in his career.
The most recent was in 2023 when he was sacked after he almost relegated VfB Stuttgart.
The same squad went on to qualify for the Champions League barely one year after the new Super Eagles coach was replaced by Sebastian Hoeneß.
His records show: Total games managed: 487, Wins: 214 (43% win rate), Draws: 103 (21% draw rate) and Losses: 170 (34% lose rate).
This means that for every 10 games he played: he won 4.3 games, lost 3.4 games and drew 2.1 games.
Labbadia’s coaching record raises questions about his ability to lead the Super Eagles to victory because his record shows he has won fewer matches (in percentage) than José Peseiro whom NFF refused to allow to stay despite leading the country to the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.
