Seven Things To Know About New Super Eagles Coach, Labbadia
2 years ago 2 min read
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The Nigeria Football Federation announced the appointment of German coach, Bruno Labbadia as the new coach of the Super Eagles.
NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi confirmed the appointment of Labbadia in a statement on Tuesday morning.
He 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.”
Here are seven things you must know about the new Super Eagles coach.
He was born in Darmstadt, Germany on 8th February 1966.
Labbadia won two caps for the German national team in his playing career
He played for 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 also coached famous names Hertha Berlin and VfB Stuttgart this decade, and previously, VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen, among others.
The new Super Eagles coach holds a UEFA Pro License.
Labbadia 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 runner-up position at the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations, while Rohr qualified and led Nigeria to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.
Labbadia’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 (Saturday 7th September in Uyo) and Rwanda (Tuesday, 10th September in Kigali), with four other matches to conclude the qualifying race following in the months of October and November.
