BREAKING:NFF appoints Labbadia as sixth German to coach Super Eagles

…As he takes up first national team coaching 

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

The Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) has named Bruno Labbadia, as the new manager of Nigeria’s Senior Men’s National Team, the Super Eagles.

In a release by the NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, said 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 is with immediate effect.”

The 58 year old German will be the sixth of his national to coach the Super Eagles after the likes of The first German born Karl-Heinz Marotzke, who took charge in 1970 and briefly returned in 1974. Since then, Nigeria has seen the likes of Gottlieb Göller (1981), Manfred Höner (1988-1989), Berti Vogts (2007-2008), and most recently, Gernot Rohr (2016-2021).

Whereas Karl-Heinz Marotzke (who had two appearances of 1970 and 1974), Rohr stayed five years, qualified and led Nigeria to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.
Labbadia, has won two caps for Die Mannschaft in his playing career that took him through clubs such as home-town team Darmstadt 98, Hamburger SV, FC Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, FC Cologne, Werder Bremen, Armenia Bielefeld and Karlsruher SC, triumphed in the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich as a player in 1994.

He coached famous names Hertha Berlin and VfB Stuttgart this decade, and previously, VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen, among others, and holds a UEFA Pro License.
His immediate challengee would be to take charge of the three-time African champions for two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Saturday 7th September in Uyo) and Rwanda (Tuesday, 10th September in Kigali), with four other matches to conclude the qualifying race following in the months of October and November.
Having led eight different club sides in 487 matches without a national team experience, Labbadia has an overall win rate of 44%, with 214 wins, 103 draws, and 170 losses from such club sides.

His experiences since 2003 in coaching not withstanding will come bare as he takes up this task outside the shores of his country in his coaching career.
Nigerian Men national team has had 35 Coaches since it’s formation in 1949 of which Labbadia is the 36 with indigenous coaches topping the list with 14 past coaches. The Super Eagles’ coaches include:
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-?