Former Super Eagles’ ace winger, Finidi George has been appointed as the new head coach of the Super Eagles. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced Finidi’s appointment in a communique on Monday.
George served as assistant to José Santos Peseiro for 20 months before taking over as interim coach after Peseiro left. The Eagles had an impressive showing at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire 2023. He led the squad in two friendly matches in Morocco last month.
In the first match, his team defeated Ghana 2-1, ending an 18-year winless streak against the Black Stars, but they lost 0-2 to Mali in the second game.
Finidi belongs to the ‘Golden Generation’ that won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations and reached the second round of the FIFA World Cup in the USA the same year, George won 62 caps for Nigeria, participating in the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals. He also earned medals from the 1992, 1994, 2000, and 2002 AFCON tournaments.
The 52-year-old former Ajax Amsterdam and Real Betis forward made his scoring debut for Nigeria in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Burkina Faso at the National Stadium, Lagos, on July 27, 1991. He assisted Rashidi Yekini in scoring Nigeria’s first-ever FIFA World Cup goal against Bulgaria in Dallas, USA, on June 19, 1994.
George’s immediate task is to guide the Super Eagles to victory in two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and Benin Republic in Uyo and Abidjan respectively, in a little over five weeks.