Augustine Eguavoen has been appointed interim manager of the Super Eagles by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) barely 24 hours after former manager Jose Peseiro left, The Nation reports.
Recall that Peseiro’s contract expired on Thursday February 29, and he announced his departure in a post on X.
Eguavoen was caretaker manager before Peseiro was appointed, having taken over from German manager Gernot Rohr, in 2021. This is the fourth time the 58-year-old manager is occupying this role for the Super Eagles, and the third time he is occupying it in an interim capacity.
Eguavoen actually started as manager of the Nigeria U20 men’s football team, Flying Eagles, for a year, before becoming permanent manager of the Super Eagles two years later.
He managed the Super Eagles through the 2006 and 2021 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), finishing third in 2006 after beating Senegal in the third place playoffs, but getting knocked out in the quarterfinal by Tunisia in 2021. He failed to qualify for the 2012 London Olympic Games after taking over from Lars Lagerback in 2010.
Eguavoen is currently the Technical Director of the Nigeria national team, appointed to that role in 2020. This was before he was made caretaker manager the last time.
He returned to his Technical Director role after Peseiro was appointed permanently as Eagles manager.
Eguavoen is an understandably safe hire considering how familiar he is with the NFF and the Super Eagles.
