The Nigeria Football Federation was compelled to revoke its agreement with German coach Bruno Labbadia to appoint him as head coach of the country’s senior men’s team, the Super Eagles, due to strict requirements imposed by German tax officials.
“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,” President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, said on Friday evening.
This is the third time foreign coaches have failed to coach the three-time African champions after being announced by Nigeria’s football governing body.
In 2016, Frenchman Paul Le Guen claimed he wasn’t contacted and didn’t reach any agreement with NFF before he was appointed to handle the Super Eagles.
In 1995, Brazilian Carlos Alberto Torres was named Super Eagles head coach but he didn’t resume work.
Meanwhile, Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Augustine Eguavoen will now take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Uyo, 7th September) and Rwanda (Kigali, 10th September).
It will be Eguavoen’s fourth stint in charge of the three-time African champions, after earlier experience in 2005-2007, 2010 and 2022.
The development comes after NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi n the early hours of Tuesday, said: “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.”
