The Nigeria Football Federation has announced that it has agreed to hire German tactician Bruno Labbadia as Head Coach of Nigeria’s Senior Men’s National Team, the Super Eagles.
Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, NFF General Secretary, stated in the early hours of Tuesday: “The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to appoint Mr. Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles.” The appointment has immediate effect.”
Born on February 8, 1966, in Darmstadt, Germany, Labbadia won two caps for Die Mannschaft during his playing career, which included stops at home team Darmstadt 98, Hamburger SV, FC Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, FC Cologne, Werder Bremen, Armenia Bielefeld, and Karlsruher SC.
He won the German Bundesliga as a player with Bayern Munich in 1994. He has coached well-known clubs such as Hertha Berlin and VfB Stuttgart this decade, as well as VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, and Bayer Leverkusen in the past, and holds a UEFA Pro License.
He is the sixth German to lead the Super Eagles after Karl-Heinz Marotzke (who had two stints between 1970 and 1974), Gottlieb Göller (1981), Manfred Höner (1988-1989), Berti Vogts (2007-2008) and Gernot Rohr (2016-2021). Höner led the Eagles to the runner-up spot in the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations, while Rohr qualified and led Nigeria to the 2018 FIFA World Cup final in Russia.
Labbadi’s immediate challenge is to lead the three-time African champions in two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Saturday, September 7th in Uyo) and Rwanda (Tuesday, September 10th in Kigali), with four more matches to complete the qualifying race in October and November.
