Eagles New Coach – Wickedness Or Genius  –Odegbami

Everyone is expecting my comment on the recent engagement of a foreign coach for the country’s national football team, the Super Eagles. I am sorry that I am going to disappoint those expecting me to criticize or praise the appointment. I am numb!

Like every other Nigerian, I knew a search was on for a foreign coach for the national team. I assumed the search would be quick, thorough and limited to Europe where most of the best coaches in the world are found. That should be expected considering that Nigerians have lofty ambitions – to play against all the odds and still qualify for the 2026 World Cup; to do better than the last time and win the African Cup of Nations this year in Morocco; and to leave a major mark on the 2026 World Cup as an authentic outside contender.

Those are the goals that would satisfy Nigerian football fans after sacking the last two European coaches, both disasters; after rejecting their own indigenous coaches that could not deliver expected results; and not even considering other qualified Nigerians as an option.

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It was clear that the NFF was not inclined to anyone but the best White-skinned coach from Europe as good enough for the Super Eagles. Hence, the long search and long wait.

Meanwhile, tired of singing my hollow minority song of support for any one of several ex-international Nigerian players with good reputation as players, good paper qualifications after retiring, and varied experiences limited only because of the general practice of discrimination against African coaches in Europe, I decided to join the wait for the NFF’s messianic coach from Europe that many of my colleagues insisted must be the only way.

So, whilst waiting for the NFF to do their job and to announce the name of one of several known, qualified and experienced European ‘World-Class’ coaches being touted as best for Nigeria and must be hired otherwise the world will end, I turned to other pursuits in life.

The waiting has been long, and the people, impatient.

Last week, the NFF finally pulled the chestnut out of the fire. Since then, even amongst some of the most virulent critics of the NFF there have been stunned into the silence of disbelief.

What did the NFF see that rest of the world did not see in this unusual choice of a coach? It was expected that he would be the product of a meticulous and thorough scrutiny of criteria needed to identify a ‘World Class’ coach with often-padded wages well-secured against previous shenanigans.

This time, a wiser NFF was expected to avoid, by all means, even the slightest whiff of a scandal.

Those were the thinking of Nigerians when the lingering dragged on for a long time. With all eyes trained on the process, expectations were high that there would be no dubiousness in ascertaining the records, credentials, experiences, qualifications and reputation of anyone chosen since no excuses would be acceptable, given the precarious position of the Super Eagles on the Group Table.

In short, the NFF must hire a coach whose choice can be easily justified.

Suddenly, from the quiet of the graveyard came the announcement that has now left a large chunk of the country’s football eggheads in a state of stupor, unable to understand the rationale and the motivation for such a bizarre choice of a coach.

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Even I, did not accept as true the initial reports. I half-expected to wake up from a bad dream.

Eric Chelle is such an audacious choice that the NFF must have seen what the rest of the country did not.

I reason that the NFF must have chosen to follow the road less travelled in order to depart from the failed processes of the past, destruct the norm, and chart a completely new route to the future with a classic ‘shock and awe’ strategy.

If that was their plan, the NFF may have succeeded. The country is in animated suspense, everyone unsure of what to make of this seeming period of ‘madness’.

I have been listening to various reactions to it and, like me, many people have been silenced by the audacity of the process and the eventual choice.

In football, realistically and by all known parameters, Eric Chelle, almost does not ‘exist’. His career as a player was ordinary, played in France only, and was mostly in the obscurity of the lower leagues. His international experience can be counted on the fingers of one hand – 5 international caps for Mali, an African country that has never won anything in football, and never even qualified for the World Cup.

Eric finished his playing career and embarked on a coaching regimen that is so lean that everything and the best of what he he did can be summed up in one item – leading Mali to the semi-finals of the last AFCON about a year ago. That’s it. That’s all. That’s who Nigeria finally settles for as the ‘world class’ coach that will take the country and the country’s football to El Dorado? That’s who ‘the Giant of Africa’ chooses ahead of its legion of retired ex-internationals with experiences and qualifications that make Eric’s look like kindergarten stuff.

Forgive me, but I am still trying to stop myself from thinking this is the greatest disrespect of a Nigerian in any field of endeavour. I am struggling to take it all in and see the side I may not be seeing through my pained eyes.

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I initially told myself it must be some ‘deep fake’ news. I have since called up one of the bosses in the NFF and he confirmed it as true. I asked him what the process of selection was and the motivation to make such a hard-to-justify choice. He advised me to call and ask Victor Ikpeba, one time Africa’s Best Player, a great football analyst on television, my good friend and a member of the Technical Committee that recommended the Malian coach to the NFF board.

I respect the ‘Prince of Monaco’, so I chose  not call to ask him, give the NFF every benefit of doubt and then, ‘Siddon-look’ the drama that will unfold.

Meanwhile, I am thinking and wondering at the sheer audacity of the NFF in choosing to take this difficult route to success. There must be something I am missing and failing to see and appreciate in this their choice.

So, I am NOT going to comment on it at all. I shall wait and watch and learn. There may be something to take away from this.

After all, in 1990, when a coach was to be hired for the Nigerian national team at the time, the NFA hired a man, whose qualifications have been the least in Nigeria’s football history.

Yes, Clemens Westerhof, may be the most successful coach to date in Nigeria’s football history, but going through his credentials at the time he was hired, he has also been the least qualified coach in Nigeria’s football history.

Eric Chelles qualifications are even a notch higher statistically than Westerhof’s in 1990.  So, is the NFF drinking from the Westerhof model? Can that be what the NFF sees and thinks will repeat itself again in 2025?

That is a question only time and the next few months will tell.

So, it makes sense for me to sit and observe the drama, either way. Nigerians should be prepared to cry or to laugh. The choice of Eric Chelle presents the stage for an epic drama. It will turn out to be the product of either ‘Wickedness’ or ‘Genius’.