Super Eagles Icon Warns NFF's Treatment of Finidi Spells Trouble for Indigenous Coaches

• The Super Eagles of Nigeria are currently without a permanent head coach following the departure of Finidi George.
• The 53-year-old left his role amid rumors that the Nigeria Football Federation was considering parting ways with him.
• Ex-Nigeria striker Victor Ezeji has commented on what the treatment meted out to Finidi could mean for other indigenous managers.

While Finidi George's appointment as coach of the Super Eagles was met with great enthusiasm, his departure from the role was far from ceremonious.

Following the mixed reactions to the two games he managed, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) issued a statement about hiring a technical adviser.

The communiqué, which stirred significant discussion within Nigeria's football community, effectively marked the end of Finidi's tenure as national team coach, even in the absence of an official announcement.

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Finidi resigned from his position just 47 days after his appointment and took up a new role with Rivers United in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

In the wake of these developments and while the NFF searches for a new Super Eagles manager, former Nigerian team attacker, Victor Ezeji, has commented on the handling of Finidi's situation.

Ezeji speaks on Finidi's situation

Speaking in an interview with Legit.ng, the former Nigeria striker, reflecting on how the situation involving the 53-year-old played out, stated:

“For me, the treatment of Finidi is not different from what we see with local players currently. The present and past NFF boards have little regard for our indigenous players and coaches. If they had the opportunity to employ a foreigner to run our youth teams, they would do so. It’s just the lack of sponsorships and funds that is constraining them.

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Which is not a good thing. We have to encourage our indigenous talents. If we don’t encourage them and provide them with the opportunity to thrive, who will afford them these opportunities? Nobody will.

We have seen our local coaches do very well with clubs in the NPFL, but nobody is giving them a chance. All the foreign coaches the NFF have appointed since Stephen Keshi’s tenure have done nothing significant with the team.”

The words of the former Club Africain forward appear to echo the sentiment of many stakeholders and fans across the country's footballing circle, who have been left far from pleased with the way the NFF chose to part ways with Finidi.

The Super Eagles remain without a permanent head coach currently, and reports of the football federation looking to hire an interim manager have recently surfaced.

Interim coach shortlist surfaces

Legit.ng in another report detailed that the NFF has compiled a shortlist of interim coaches to lead the Super Eagles during the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualification series.

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This shortlist includes several local coaches who have previously served with the national team.

Source: Legit.ng