The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has officially appointed German tactician Bruno Labbadia as the new head coach of the Super Eagles, Nigeria’s senior men’s national team. The appointment comes just eleven days before Nigeria’s crucial 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Benin Republic.
Labbadia’s appointment was disclosed in an early morning tweet on Tuesday via the NFF’s X handle, tweeting as #thenff.
The statement read, “The Nigeria Football Federation has announced that it has reached an agreement with German tactician, Bruno Labbadia, to become the Head Coach of Nigeria’s senior men’s national team, Super Eagles.”
“The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development sub-committee to appoint Mr Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles,” according to the federation’s General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi.
Labbadia becomes the 37th Head Coach of the Super Eagles after the resignation of former coach, Finidi George.
Labbadia’s appointment follows months of searching for a new head coach after the resignation of former coach Finidi George, who stepped down due to poor results in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
His immediate task will be to guide the three-time African champions through two critical 2025 AFCON qualifying matches against Benin Republic on September 7th and Rwanda on September 10th. The Super Eagles are in Group D, competing alongside Benin, Rwanda, and Libya for a spot in the 2025 AFCON tournament.
The Super Eagles are set to kick off their 2025 AFCON qualifying campaign at home against Benin on September 7th at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo. They will then travel to Kigali to face Rwanda at the Amahoro Stadium on September 10th.
READ ALSO: Burna Boy Launches Football Academy in Nigeria
Labbadia is a former player-turned-coach. In his playing days, he was on the roster of FC Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, Darmstadt, Hamburger, FC Köln, Werder Bremen, Arminia Bielefeld and Karlsruher SC.
As a coach, he has managed Darmstadt, Greuther Fürth, Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburger SV, Hertha BSC, and Wolfsburg.His last coaching job was as manager of Stuttgart. He was sacked in April 2023 after the team dropped to the last spot on the Bundesliga table
As a newly appointed coach, Labbadia is saddled with the responsibility of leading the Nigeria football team back to continental glory.
