Mohammed Momoh
Abuja, December 31, 2021(NIGERIA) Nigeria has appointed 61-year-old Portuguese Jose Peseiro as the new Head Coach of the national football team, the Super Eagles, to replace Gernot Rohr who was sacked early in December.
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on December 12, 2021 sacked Rohr as coach of the national team after several weeks of speculation concerning his future due to poor performances.
NFF on December 29, 2021 named Jose Peseiro as the new Head Coach of the Super Eagles after the NFF’s executive committee met via video conference,
According to a statement by the NFF after the meeting, Peseiro will, however, be an observer at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament kicking off on January 9 in Cameroon.
Nigeria’s Augustine Eguavoen, who had been overseeing the team since the sack of Rohr would remain in charge of the team as interim manager during the championship.
“It was unanimously agreed that the AFCON is a good avenue for Peseiro to launch a working relationship with Eguavoen, who will revert to his role as Technical Director (hence Peseiro’s immediate boss) after the AFCON,” the NFF said in its statement.
The NFF had on December 12 named Eguavoen, a former captain of the Super Eagles, as Technical Adviser of the national team, albeit on an interim basis.
The development followed the removal of Gernot Rohr as Coach of the team.
Peseiro, who will effectively take charge of the team after the AFCON, was born April 4, 1960. He played the game as a forward between 1979 and 1994 before becoming manager.
Beginning 1992, he coached several clubs in his native portugal, including Sporting CP (which he took to the 2005 UEFA Cup Final) and Porto.
The Portuguese has had a 29-year coaching career, which started at Uniao Santarem in Portugal.
He also coached Al Ahly of Egypt in 2015, and managed the national teams of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela at different times.
