The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has officially announced the appointment of German tactician Bruno Labbadia as the new head coach of the Super Eagles. The decision was revealed in a tweet from the NFF’s official X handle on Tuesday morning.
The statement from the NFF read, “We are pleased to announce that the Nigeria Football Federation has reached an agreement with German tactician Bruno Labbadia to become the Head Coach of Nigeria’s senior men’s national team, the Super Eagles.”
NFF General Secretary Dr. Mohammed Sanusi added, “The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of the Technical and Development sub-committee to appoint Mr. Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles.”
Labbadia, born February 8, 1966, is a seasoned football manager and former player known for his time as a striker. His career highlights include winning the DFB-Pokal with 1. FC Kaiserslautern in 1989-90 and the Bundesliga with FC Bayern Munich in 1993-94. He was also capped twice for the German national team.
He is the 37th head coach of the Super Eagles and only the sixth German to lead the team, following in the footsteps of Karl-Heinz Marotzke, Gottlieb Göller, Manfred Höner, Berti Vogts, and Gernot Rohr. Notably, Höner led the Eagles to the runner-up position at the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations, while Rohr guided Nigeria to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.
Labbadia’s immediate challenge will be to lead the Super Eagles through two crucial 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches: against Benin Republic on September 7 in Uyo and Rwanda on September 10 in Kigali. The team will then have four additional qualifying matches in October and November to secure their place in the tournament.
