…Plus Nigeria’s Super Eagles’ coaches till date
No fewer than six Germans have handled the Nigeria senior men’s national football team now known as the Super Eagles before the emergence of Bruno Labbadia as the new coach.
Karl-Heinze Marotzke 1973-1974, Othman Calder 1974, Gottlieb Goller 1981, Manfred Hoener 1988-1989, Berti Vogts 2007-2008, Gernot Rohr 2016-2020 and now Bruno Labbadia.
All failed. None of them won a trophy for Nigeria. Not even Berti Vogts who came with a glittering curriculum vitae. In fact, his one-year spell was adjudged the worst among all yet he arguably possessed the best credentials of football compared to his compatriots who handled the Nigerian team.
Germans are known to be tough, dogged, hardworking, discipline, very tactical, meticulous and highly successful when it comes to the business of football coaching. But why they have not succeeded here remains a mystery. Perhaps our peculiar nature and often wrong approach to doing thing are responsible. We hope Labbadia changes this sad narrative.
Gernot Rohr who spent close to six years here left unceremoniously without anything to show for his long stay. He was one of the longest serving foreign coaches of the Super Eagles but couldn’t transform that into honours or trophies.
He relied solely on foreign based players and kept saying that Nigeria football League isn’t good enough hence it can’t produce the kind of players needed in Super Eagles. Sadly, no one asked him to shut his trap. No one reminded him that the same League produced the likes of Austin Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu, Emmanuel Amunike, Victor Ikpeba and Rashidi Yekini to mention a few.
Shutting out home based players contributed immensely in the destruction of the Super Eagles because there was no serious competition for shirts among the foreign based players who took over the team under Rohr.
Perhaps, as a way of challenging and or motivating Labbadia, we have to remind that his compatriots were failures in Nigeria. This suggests that stakeholders aren’t expecting much from him hence, he should up his game to pleasantly surprise Nigerians.
Already some “positive-minded” Nigerians are speaking in Labbadia’s favour arguing that, Clemens Westerhorf didn’t have any experience of African football and was relatively unknown when he first arrived here yet, he became the most successful foreign coach in the history of Nigeria football.
Labbadia must understand that Westerhorf didn’t just achieve that feat. His success didn’t come on a platter of gold. He worked for it. He earned it. He rolled up his sleeves and got into the trenches. He succeeded because he first and foremost saw himself as a Nigerian. He lived here, fraternized with the people, made their local foods his delicacies and hungered for result.
Westerhorf combed the nooks and crannies of our league venues to discover players. He had a mindset of the kind and quality of players he wanted. He got men not boys. He got soldiers not boy scouts. He got patriots not traitors. He got glory hunters not clout chaser. He got force men not fashion men…and he eventually got wonderful results.
Will Labbadia live here with us? Or will he be a visiting coach who will fly in four days to a game and return to his country 24 hours after under the guise of monitoring Europe-based players of the team? Berti Vogts did that and didn’t last here.
Will Labbadia be ready and willing to build a team by going to NPFL venues to scout for players? Or he would continue with the destructive style of treating domestic players like lepers? Will he source for new players or rely on ready-made, overhyped and overpampered average players presently in the team?
We watch and wait to see how Labbadia will operate to prove a point and stand out among his compatriots who did not bring joy to our football.
Page3News
Nigeria’s Super Eagles’ coaches till date
(From Red Devils to Green Eagles to Super Eagles)
*John Finch (England) – 1949
*Daniel Anyiam (Nigeria) – 1954-1956; 1964-1965
*Les Courtier (England) – 1956-1960
*Moshe Beit Halevi (Israel) – 1960-1961
*George Vardar (Hungary) – 1961-1963
*Joey Blackwell (England) – 1963 – 1964
*József Ember (Hungary) – 1965-1968
*Sabino Barinaga (Spain) – 1968-1969
*Peter ‘Eto’ Amaechina (Nigeria) – 1969-1970
*Karl-Heinz Marotzke (Germany) – 1970-1971; 1974
*Jorge Penna (Brazil) – 1972-1973
*Jelisavčić ‘Father Tiko’ Tihomir (Yugoslavia) – 1974-1978
*Otto Glória (Brazil) – 1979-1982
*Gottlieb Göller (Germany) – 1981
*Adegboye Onigbinde (Nigeria) – 1983-1984; 2002
*Chris Udemezue (Nigeria) – 1984-1986
*Patrick Ekeji (Nigeria) – 1985
*Paul Hamilton (Nigeria) – 1987; 1989
*Manfred Höner (Germany) – 1988-1989
*Clemens Westerhof (Netherlands) – 1989-1994
*Amodu Shaibu (Nigeria) – 1994-1995; 1996-1997; 2001-2002; 2008-2010
*Johannes Bonfrere (Netherlands) – 1995-1996; 1999-2001
*Philippe Troussier (France) – 1997
*Monday Sinclair (Nigeria) – 1997-1998
*Bora Milutinović (Yugoslavia) – 1998
*Thijs Libregts (Netherlands) – 1999
*Christian Chukwu (Nigeria) – 2002-2005
*Augustine Eguavoen (Nigeria) – 2005-2007; 2010; 2022
*Berti Vogts (Germany) – 2007-2008
*Lars Lagerbäck (Sweden) – 2010
*Samson Siasia (Nigeria) – 2010-2011; 2016
*Stephen Keshi (Nigeria) – 2011-2014; 2015
*Sunday Oliseh (Nigeria) – 2015-2016
*Gernot Rohr (Germany) – 2016-2021
*José Peseiro (Portugal) – 2022-2024
*Finidi George (Nigeria) – 2024
*Bruno Labbadia (Germany) – 2024 – ?
