THE Super Eagles will achieve great success under the present technical crew headed by Eric Chelle, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Ibrahim Gusau has projected.
Gusau, who is also President of the sub-regional bloc WAFU B, believes that with what the Super Eagles have shown at the Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), in which they finished in third place, the three-time African champions have turned the corner from the disappointment of consecutive FIFA World Cup misses, and are now set to rise to new heights.
“Actually, when we landed in Morocco towards the end of last year, our objective was to win the AFCON trophy and be the champions of Africa,” Gusau told the NFF media department.
“Today, we finished in third place and won the bronze medals instead. We missed our target but my joy is in the way our team played. They have played with zest and patriotic fervour, and showed resilience and character.
“Big kudos to the huge support and motivation that we continue to receive from the Federal Government, through the National Sports Commission. Without the support of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR and the Government as a whole, we would not have been able to do anything.
“The NFF is proud of the team’s campaign and will continue to do its best to encourage, support and motivate the team as we go forward. As the head of a hard-working technical crew, Mr. Chelle has done exceedingly well within the one year he has been with us. He has shown enormous capacity and we will continue to work with him.”
Gusau’s statement appears to have endorsed Chelle for a new contract with the NFF, following speculation that the former Mali international could leave his post soon.
With the Super Eagles’ attractive attacking football in Morocco, which earned brilliant wins against heavyweights Tunisia and Algeria and took the hosts to penalties, Chelle has won over Nigerian football fans and he has massive support among them.
Chelle was employed as Super Eagles head coach in January 2025, and he steered the team from having no hope of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to reaching the African play-offs final, where they lost to the Democratic Republic of Congo on penalties.
The 48-year-old has led the Super Eagles in 17 competitive matches, losing none in open play.
In Morocco, Chelle’s Super Eagles produced a tournament-high 14 goals, the most the West African giants have ever scored in a single AFCON, with the team unbeaten in regulation time in any of their seven matches.
In winning their first AFCON title on home soil in 1980, the Eagles scored a total of eight goals.
In 1994 in Tunisia, they scored a total of nine goals, and when winning in South Africa in 2013, the Super Eagles netted 11 times.
“The journey to the next AFCON starts immediately (in March). We do not have the luxury of time to continue dwelling on what we have done here. We must set to work immediately,” Gusau added.
“For now, we are excited about the squad that we have. Remember also that a couple of very good players missed the tournament as a result of injury. The bottomline is that the future looks very bright.”
The third-place victory over Egypt (4-2 on penalties) yesterday means Nigeria have won medals in 17 of their 21 appearances at the AFCON, with the exception being the 1963, 1982, 2008 and 2021 editions.