The Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Austin Eguavoen, has debunked rumours that he had stepped down as the coach of the Super Eagles.
Recall that rumours filled the social media of Eguavoen ditching the Super Eagle coaching job following the team’s goalless draw with the Rwanda team on Tuesday.
But Eguavoen has denied stepping down as the interim coach of the Super Eagles.
He has only coached the Super Eagle as interim coach in the matches against the Benin Republic and Rwanda.
Eguavoen won the home match against Benin Republic and draw against Rwanda on the way to qualifying for the 2025 AFCON competition.
Recall that Eguavoen was appointed by the NFF to take charge of the two games following the inability of the Federation to secure the services of German coach, Bruno Labbadia.
It was reported that the German coach was denied visa over what they call stringent German tax laws.
The letter of Eguavoen appointment read, “In the event, Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Coach Augustine Eguavoen, will now take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Uyo, September 7) and Rwanda (Kigali, September 10).”
It was, therefore, on the strength of the letter that the rumour of Egoavoen stepping down as coach came up.
Recall that the 59-year-old Eguavoen led Nigeria to a convincing 3-0 win over the Benin Republic in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, last Saturday. He, however, led the Super Eagles to a goalless draw in the second game against Rwanda on Tuesday.
After Tuesday’s goalless draw in Kigali, Eguavoen was said to have stepped down as interim coach. He, however, has come out to deny the reports ahead of next month’s AFCON qualifiers double header against Libya.
Responding to rumour, Eguzvoen said, “It’s quite unfortunate that people just trigger something that is not correct. And the situation we are in now, we don’t need negative stories.”
“I only talked about sitting down with the hierarchy of the Federation after these two games. So, that we will see how to go about prosecuting the next games.
“But when I saw that story I was worried. Whatever people are reading out there aren’t correct. I’m still very much in charge. I’m the Technical Director of the NFF. Saddled with the responsibility of taking the Super Eagles at this moment.” Eguavoen made the clarification on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in a media chat.
source: PUNCH
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