NFF Appoints Former Mali’s Manager Eric Chelle as Super Eagles Coach

The appointment of Mr Chelle was announced on Tuesday night by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The first job of the new coach will be to guide the home-base Super Eagles team to victory at the 2024 CAF African Nations Championship (CHAN) co-hosted by the trio of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania from February 1–28, 2025.

He will work with the current Super Eagles B coaching staff, which includes Daniel Ogunmodede, Fidelis Ilechukwu, and Olatunji Baruwa, who successfully guided the team through CHAN qualifiers.

The biennial football tournament is organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and sponsored by an oil giant, TotalEnergies.

Mr Chelle would be expected to deploy his tactics to ensure a successful outing of the home-based Super Eagles at the competition and also revive the main team, according to the president of the NFF, Mr Ibrahim Gusau.

“We want whoever takes charge of the team to begin immediately, which is why the same coach will manage the CHAN Eagles.

“This allows us to identify promising home-based players who can contribute to the senior national team,” he stated.

Business Post reports that the new coach was favoured for the new job by the Technical and Development Sub-Committee of the federation and endorsed by the executive committee.

One of his biggest tasks will be to qualify the Super Eagles for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States of America (USA).

At the moment, Nigeria occupies fifth position and will play the next qualifiers in two months’ time.

Mr Chelle led the Mali national team to quarterfinals of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. He is the latest foreign coach appointed by the NFF to manage the country’s national team.