After José Peseiro’s departure, there was a period of uncertainty until George’s appointment. With the Super Eagles finishing in a commendable second place at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, the Portuguese manager’s contract came to an end in February 2024, leaving a void.
Peseiro qualified for the competition in Ivory Coast, but his future was called into question after his lackluster draws against Lesotho and Zimbabwe in the preliminary round of the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
The announcement was made via the NFF website. “On Monday, the Board of the Nigeria Football Federation approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Committee to appoint former ace winger Finidi George as Head Coach of the Senior Men National Football Team, Super Eagles.”
“George, who served as José Santos Peseiro’s assistant for 20 months before the Portugueseman resigned the position voluntarily after Cote d’Ivoire 2023 finished second in the Africa Cup of Nations, led the team in an acting capacity during two friendlies in Morocco last month.
“His team defeated Ghana 2-1 in the opening game to snap an 18-year losing record to the Black Stars, but they were defeated 0-2 by Mali in the second encounter.
George won 62 caps for Nigeria, including appearances at the 1994 and 1998 Fifa World Cup finals. He was a member of the renowned “Golden Generation,” which won the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations competition in Tunisia and finished as the second most entertaining team in Nigeria’s debut at the Fifa World Cup finals in the USA that same year. The statement went on, “He also won gold, silver, and bronze medals from the Afcon tournaments in 1992, 1994, 2000, and 2002.”
George’s immediate task will be to guide the Super Eagles to victory in two 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa and Benin Republic in Uyo and Abidjan respectively, in a little over five weeks. The matches are must-win encounters, with the Super Eagles lagging behind in third place in Group C of the African campaign behind Rwanda and South Africa,” it ended.
George will be concentrated on guiding the squad to win in the next games as they face tremendous pressure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup and huge expectations from the fervent Nigerian crowd.
On June 3rd, they will play Bafana Bafana, and on June 10th, they will play Benin.
