Confusion As New Super Eagles’ Coach Labbadia Rejects Offer

• NFF blames stringent German tax regime for contract failure 
• Again Eguavoen steps in for Benin, Rwanda fixtures

With confusion trailing the German coach Bruno LabBadia’s unexpected rejection of the Super Eagles’ head coach job, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says ex-international and national team’s Technical Director, Augustine Eguavoen is stepping in to take charge on an interim basis.

By this arrangements, Eguavoenwill be saddled with the responsibility of handling the team’s preparations for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against Benin Republic and Rwanda.

Labbadia, who was named as successor to Finidi George earlier this week, withdrew from the role over what the NFF described as unresolved issues with German tax laws.

Explaining its decision to abort the deal appointing the 58-year-old as Eagles’ new handler, the Nation’s football governing body disclosed late Friday via a statement on X that the tax concerns were the main obstacle to finalizing the agreement.

NFF President Ibrahim Gusau stated thus; “We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF will agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities.

“It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32% to 40% of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage.

“The NFF and Mr. Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up.

“We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that.”

Coming just seven days before Nigeria’s 2025 AFCON qualifiers against the Benin Republic, Labbadia’s decision forced the NFF to turn to Eguavoen.

The Federation said; “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)”.

Interestingly, this is Eguavoen’s fourth stint in charge of the Super Eagles after not-too-inspiring experiences in 2005-2007, 2010 and 2022.

The ex-international was in charge of the 2022 World Cup qualifier playoff between Nigeria and Ghana, in which the three-time African champions embarrassingly lost the ticket to the Qatar football spectacle.

In the meantime, a German outlet, Kicker reported that though the Super Eagles’ job comes as the first national team offer for Coach Labbadia, he is still excited at the prospect of handling a national team in the nearest future.

Had the contract pulled through successfully, the German tactician would have been the 37th Chief coach of the Eagles and the sixth German to occupy the prized position.

Meanwhile, the NFF has named a 23-member squad for the upcoming qualifiers, with out-of-favour Napoli striker Victor Osimhen, Nottingham Forest forward Taiwo Awoniyi, and stand-in captain William Troost-Ekong, all making their return to the national team after extended injury issues.