Coach gets one-year deal, Amokachi returns as assistant coach

New Super Eagles Coach, Finidi George, has promised to lead Nigeria to the 2026 World Cup billed to hold in the United States, Canada and Mexico.George, who has been given an initial one-year contract by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), was formally unveiled to members of the public, yesterday, in Abuja. He will be assisted by his former international team mate, Daniel Amokachi, who is returning to the team for the third time as assistant coach.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony witnessed by Sports Minister, John Owan Enoh, top officials of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), journalists and other football stakeholders, George, said he would invite for international assignments only players who feature regularly at their clubs either in Nigeria or in the Diaspora, and promised that the Super Eagles would remain even more competitive in the years ahead.
 
He said: “My first target is to make sure that we are in line to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup by winning the upcoming two matches against South Africa and Benin Republic. The 2025 AFCON qualifiers will soon start and we must also be prepared for those as well. I know what the NFF wants as it is boldly written in the contract, and I will work very hard to add value to the team and put myself in the position to earn even more than I will be earning from the take-off.”
 
On relationship with the players, George said: “I have always had a cordial relationship with all the players as an assistant coach. I am still the same person even as head coach now, only that the title has changed.

“There will be no controversy regarding relationships with the players. These are professional players and we have to give them what they’re used to in Europe; you don’t need to slap anyone to get him to do the right thing.
 
“I will try my best to ensure the team starts functioning properly and we start winning games again. There is no pressure on me; I have tough skin. I just want to call for your support. I know this is not an easy job, but with the support of everyone, we can achieve our objectives.”

 
Earlier, NFF President, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, had explained the decision to hire George, saying that the federation is entering a new era of excellence.
 
“When we returned from the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire, we began the search for a new head coach. There was a plethora of foreign applicants, far more than the indigenous applicants. However, we undertook a thorough process that has produced an indigenous coach and we are very happy about that.

“Finidi George was part of the technical crew that came close to winning the AFCON, and we have faith in him that he will lead the team to the title next time.  
 
“Our objective now is to ensure the enthronement of excellence at all levels of the national teams.” Gusau also revealed that the Federation gave George the free hand to pick his assistants, and that the tactician has already picked Daniel Amokachi and Benjamin James as assistants, as well as Olatunji Baruwa (goalkeepers’ trainer), Chima Onyeike (fitness trainer) and Mehmet Ozturk (analyst).
 
George is the 41st coach to ever handle the Nigeria national team. His tenure may lapse on or before the Africa Cup of Nations in 2025, which timing has not been ascertained. The competition will hold in Morocco.

 
Also, by May 2025 when the contract will lapse, Nigeria will be looking forward to a potentially dicey Match Day 8 World Cup qualifier against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa on September 7, 2025.
 
Finidi is expected to build on his impressive credentials. Apart from the World Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations gold medal, he has won other laurels.
His goal qualified Nigeria for the World Cup for the first time in 1993, and in 1994, he scored the goal that pushed Nigeria into the next round before Daniel Amokachi later scored the one that shot Nigeria to the top of the group that comprised Argentina, Bulgaria and Greece.
 
Finidi’s career in the Africa Cup of Nations include three podium finishing as number one in 1994, number two in 2000 and third placed at Senegal ‘92. He also won the European Champions League with Ajax. He will be striving to take Nigeria back to an enviable height with qualification for the 2026 World Cup and winning of the Africa Cup of Nations 2025 in Morocco.
 
Meanwhile, Daniel ‘The Bull’ Amokachi is making another return to the Super Eagles as an assistant to coach Finidi George. Amokachi first served as assistant coach in the Super Eagles at Egypt 2006 African Nations Cup, where he worked with the trio of Augustine Eguavoen (head coach), Samson Siasia and Ike Shoronmu in a consortium of coaches’ arrangement. They lost in the semifinal to a Didier Drogba-led Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire in the city of Alexandra. Amokachi returned to the squad again in 2013, as one of the assistants to the late coach Stephen Keshi. They won the AFCON title in South Africa.