The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced Jose Peseiro as the new Super Eagles coach.
The Portuguese who came highly recommended by close friend Jose Mourinho will be at the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon, but only as an observer.
He will however take over from interim coach Augustine Eguavoen after the tournament.
The announcement was made in a communique issued after the virtual Executive Committee meeting of the body.
“After careful consideration of a memo presented by Chairman of the Technical and Development Sub-Committee, the Executive Committee endorsed a proposal for the appointment of Mr Jose Peseiro as the new Head Coach of the Super Eagles, following the end to the relationship with Mr Gernot Rohr,” the NFF communique read in part.
The Portuguese appointment is announced 17 days after the sacking of Franco-German Gernot Rohr as Super Eagles coach.
Though Peseiro is expected to be at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations next month in Cameroon, he will take over the team fully after AFCON.
“However, the Committee resolved that Mr Augustine Eguavoen named the interim Head Coach, will lead the Super Eagles to the AFCON 2021 in Cameroon with Mr Peseiro only playing the role of Observer. It was unanimously agreed that the AFCON is a good avenue for Mr Peseiro to launch a working relationship with Mr Eguavoen, who will revert to his role as Technical Director (hence Mr Peseiro’s immediate boss) after the AFCON,” the communique added.
61-year-old Peseiro spent his first eight years as a manager in the third and fourth-tiers of Portuguese football, starting as a player-coach at his last team In summer 1999 he was appointed at C.D. Nacional, which he helped promote to the Primeira Liga in just three seasons. In 2002–03, he led the team to a final 11th position.
His CV showed that he was assistant coach of Real Madrid between 2003 and 2004.
He had coached Saudi Arabia, Braga, Al Wahda, Al Ahly, Porto, Sharjah, Vitória de Guimarães, Sporting CP and Venezuela all between 2009 and 2020.
It was gathered that former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was contacted by desperate NFF president Amaju Pinnick who reached out to the Portuguese to help search for a formidable coach.
Now, Peseiro has been officially appointed and he will take charge of the team ahead of the World Cup qualifying play offs billed for March.
