Meet new Nigeria’s Super Eagles coach Bruno Labbadia

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced the appointment of German tactician Bruno Labbadia as the new Super Eagles’ head coach.

“The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to appoint Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The appointment is with immediate effect,” NFF general secretary Mohammed Sanusi said in a statement on Tuesday.

The 58-year-old gaffer was born in Darmstadt, Germany, on February 8, 1966.

NAN reports that Labbadia won two caps for Die Mannschaft in his playing career, which 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.

Labbadia 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, and Bayer Leverkusen, among others, and holds a UEFA Pro License.

He is only the sixth German, 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) to lead the Super Eagles.

Höner led the Eagles to the runners-up position at the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations, while Rohr qualified and led Nigeria to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

Labbadi’s immediate challenge is to take charge of the three-time African champions for two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (September 7 in Uyo) and Rwanda (September 10 in Kigali).

Four other matches would conclude the qualifying race following in the months of October and November.