Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have on Wednesday evening announced the appointment of Éric Chelle as the new head coach of the Super Eagles, AhotorSports can report.
This follows as a meeting on January 2, 2025 in Abuja, where the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation endorsed the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee for the appointment of Mr. Éric Sékou Chelle as Head Coach of Nigeria’s senior men national football team, Super Eagles.
Éric’s appointment is with immediate effect, and he has the responsibility of guiding the Super Eagles to earn a ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals, with the next round of matches (Matchdays 5 & 6) taking place in March, 2025. Nigeria currently sits fifth in Group C, winless after four games.
According to NFF president Gusau, he will also work with the home-based Super Eagles at the 2024 African Nations Championship in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, where Nigeria will compete with 17 other countries from February 1-28, 2025.
“We are all concerned and we want whoever takes charge of the team to start immediately, which is why we have a policy that the same coach will manage the CHAN Eagles. So, you cannot have the opportunity to manage a team made up of home-based players and, at the end of the tournament, come back and tell us that you don’t see one or two players who could be injected into the senior national team,” NFF President, Gusau said.
Chelle, 47, won five caps for the Aiglons of Mali and have managed clubs such as GS Consolat, FC Martigues, Boulogne and MC Oran, has been Head Coach of the Aiglons since 2022.
At the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cote d’Ivoire, Chelle’s Mali came very close to a place in the semi-finals, losing to hosts and eventual winners Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 after extra time, after leading by a lone goal until the final minute of regulation time.
