Former Nigerian international Ifeanyi Udeze has mocked the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF)’s decision to appoint Eric Chelle as the head coach of the Super Eagles.
According to Udeze, the erstwhile interim coach of the team, Augustine Eguavoen, has a better ‘CV’ than the Malian gaffer, Chelle.
The NFF had on Tuesday announced the appointment of Chelle as Super Eagles new head coach, replacing Eguavoen, who was appointed as caretaker manager after the NFF parted ways with Finidi George last year.
Speaking on Brila FM’s programme, ‘No Holds Barred’, Udeze questioned Chelle’s appointment.
“A coach Mali sacked for a poor run in the World Cup qualifiers, does he deserve this job?” Udeze asked.
“The most annoying thing is that Augustine Eguavoen, who was our interim coach, has a better CV than this Eric Chelle. On what grounds was Chelle employed?
“He took the job to enhance his CV. He doesn’t care whether we qualify for the World Cup or not. That’s the only reason he accepted the job.”
The 47-year-old Chelle, who was sacked as Mali’s head coach after failing to win games in the same 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, is expected to lead Nigeria for the remaining games of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Meanwhile, the Integrity Group has urged Nigerians not to be discriminative of the Franco-Malian as this will be against the ethos of sporting integrity and global practicability of sports.
The Group made the call in a statement issued yesterday by their secretary, Godwin Dele, saying due process was followed in the conduct leading to the appointment of former Mali coach.
According to the Group expertise and recommendation of the technical department was followed by inputs of the technical sub-committee and ratification by the board of the NFF.
“We discovered that Tactical Sagacity and Economic Viability was priotised by the NFF before deciding on the coach.
“Considering the early yearnings of the public that the NFF appiont a substantive coach before returning for the world cup qualifiers in March, the decision to hire Èric Chelle was done in the best interest of Nigerian football”, it said.
“We also noticed that Chelle belongs in the Golden Age of African football, where former African internationals between Age 40-48 are dominating football on the continent, winning AFCON titles and qualifying African national teams for the World Cup”, it added.
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