Former Nigerian international, Julius Aghahowa has alleged that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) doesn’t have the financial capacity to pay a foreign coach if appointed to manage the Super Eagles.
Recall that a few days ago, the NFF opted to bring in an expatriate technical adviser for the Super Eagles, marking a significant shift from Finidi George’s tenure as head coach.
The decision, announced following a draw with South Africa in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and a defeat to Benin Republic, worsened the situation, prompting calls for change from both fans and government officials.
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However, with plans to appoint a foreign coach on the card, Aghahowa stated in a chat with Brila FM that the NFF is cash strapped and won’t be able to pay an expatriate.
He also advised the NFF to look inward and appoint a local coach that will help in the development of the homegrown players in the Super Eagles.
“I think it’s what they want. So they will usually go for what they want, irrespective of what people will see or what people’s opinions will be, but I feel we have gone past that.
“Right now, we should be looking inward. First of all, we don’t have money to pay foreign coaches right now. I remember how they struggled in the past,” the former Bendel Insurance striker told Brila.
“We should look inward and allow our homegrown coaches to coach the national team, but in the long term, if you look at the national team in the past couple of years, we don’t have the homegrown players included in the call-up.
“So, I feel that if we have our homegrown coaches, that should be an opportunity for the homegrown players to be invited to the national team, so we can make our league stronger,” the 42-year-old concluded.
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37 Comments
Omo carry dis one go ICU make dem check em brain.
Lmao..we should be looking in ward while our SE continue to sink…
Anyway NFF what are you guys doing about the ban, suspension, fine or apology letter of osimehn….
It’s been 3-4 days now no news…
Please you guys should do something asap..we can’t wait…so it can serve as deterrent to up coming footballers
WHAT A SHAME WHEN MANY COUNTRIES THAT DOESN’T HAVE OIL(or more resources more than Nigeria) CAN AVOID TIMES THREE HUGE AMOUNT OF WHAT NIGERIA ARE PAYING THEIR COACHES.
** WE CAN IMAGINE WHEN COUNTRIES LIKE ZAMBIA(AFCON 2010 to 2012), IVORY COAST(AFCON 2015) CAN AVOID HUGE AMOUNT(without owing)FOR HERVE RENARD, NFF ARE LANGUISHING IN OWING AMODU SHUAIBU, OLISEH AS OF THEN.
WHAT A BIG SHAME WHEN A COUNTRY LIKE GHANA, EGYPT, TUNISIA CAN AVOID & ENGAGE A BIG COACHES LIKE AVRAN GRANT( former Chelsea coach), CARLOS QUEROX( former Portugal & man.utd assistant coach), ROGER LAMERRE( former Len & France coach). THEN WHAT STOP NIGERIA TO ENGAGE ONE. WHY ARE THEY ALWAYS COMPLAINING ABOUT FINANCY INCAPABILITY. IS NIGERIA FIVE TIMES NOT RICHER THAN THEM. NIGERIA GET OIL BUT THEM, THEY DIDN’T GET OIL.
THIS IS A BIG SHAME, SHAME, SHAME.
MAY BE THEY SHOULD EMPLOY SALISU YUSUF OR LADAN BOSSO THIS TIME AROUND SO THAT THEY WILL LOOK INWARD VERY.
INDIGENOUS COACHES SHOULD GO AND PROVE THEIR THEMSELVES FROM LOCAL COMPETITION LIKE CHAN , U-20, U-23 COMPETITION, OR PROVE THEMSELVES ELSEWHERE BEFORE OF THINKING OF COACHING SUPER EAGLE
This parrot has been coached to say this crap. Unael and Odegbami will not rest they will sends all sorts of parrots to the media to spew recycled crap for Ex Footballers who did not manage their money wisely in their playing days and spent it all on women. Ndi ara, Aghawonda as I use to say because of your summersult, well no more I have lost respect for you, you see people who didnt go school and just played ball this is the result. Mtcheeew
Are u sure this is not media propaganda use by the NFF to hire a local coach ?
See all these ex internationals that you all are saying we should worship them…………..see opata yarn way this one dey yarn.
Is something wrong with the brain of these ex-footballers? If Benin, Rwanda, Cameroon can afford a foreign coach, why can’t NIGERIA?
I remember Nigeria vs Cote D’Ivoire in 2013 afcon.
Before the game .. so many things happened.
Contractors were quickly paid .
Flight ticket booked so as not to waste extra foreign exchange on bills
Waiting in south Africa. Nff official knows y …
After the win .. everyone was happy,more money came , more money.lost .no body cares again..
The rest is history.
Y i m saying this is that any coach that can camp eagles for two to three weeks will beat any team in Africa Asia. North America, east Europe, Australia and wil likely get a win or draw against west Europe or south American team even with a salary of 10million nAira. Not even 15 million given to finidi. If dey had supported finidi with camping eagles in Cote D’Ivoire,or morroco for two weeks only.i m sure even south Africa wil loss in Uyo not to talk of Benin republic in Cote D’Ivoire. But instead it was a media tour . Thinking that wil give him a positive image .
Now they want to spend big money now.
The same thing wil happen if dey bring gardiola with a week camping.for the team
No foreign coach will get a good result training or camping eagles for a week with 100000 dollar salary.
The second half of the south Africa vs eagles game got the Coach over confidence going into Benin game .and the match rusty team could not hold their legs against a pressured Benin republic team that hasn’t gotten a win against eagles since the world was created .
We remember 2002 world cup qualification wen Liberia was going to creat an upset.
If not for Ghana that did not sell their game ..they had to make sure they went to Liberia to stop them from going to Korea/Japan.
If it were to be super eagles of nowadays I m sure they will not come to play that game. But Ghana men wanted a revenge. And they got it . That was the reason Nigeria went to Japan 2002 . Even nff wil say no money to invite players. I m sure .
The case at hand is now between Lesotho Rwanda, south Africa Nigeria Zimbabwe and our new boss Benin republic.
To end my write up . Eagles guys need to know 70% of their supporters in Nigeria wil always place a bet on them anytime they are playing. So people are losing money wen they lose a game not to talk of losing to Benin republic.
I knew a guy who placed 10000 nAira thinking he would win 600000 .
And some many like that online..
The foreign coaches (even the PE teachers and journeymen amongst them) were holding 3 training sessions before qualifier games and having smooth sailing campaigns, but your local coaches must camp players for 2 weeks to be able to qualify teams for major tournaments. Yet, local coaches are as good as foreign coaches.
Weldone ehn. A rousing ovation for you.
Not only were we unable to defeat Benin republic on a neutral ground because Osimhen is not committed and is choosing matches to play for Nigeria, we also lost to them because we hadn’t ca,ped for 2 weeks.
Weldone once again.
Things have changed in African football. Super eagles cannot survive eyimba, rivers united, rangers combinations. With a week camping. The local guys wil hold them in 90 mins or even send Dem to medical. Serria Leone did it with 4:4. A game that could have ended 4 :0 .. As long as they are not able to camp for longer period.den 2026 qualification will be another mirage even with best of coaches from Europe
So, other African teams who are currently topping their groups camp for 2 weeks before qualifiers right…?
Maybe it is you we will send to Europe to help has abduct players from their clubs 2 weeks before every international break.
Why are people against Osimhen? Was he wrong to speak out against linking him failure in matches where he wasn’t in the squad? Commentary is mostly about absent player, not chief coach who got his playing selection badly wrong, and squad invitation questionable. Barking up wrong tree. Chasing shadow instead of substance. NFF must be asked about squad invitation as well.
Ekong had publicly stated he was fit but was not invited. The defense was shambolic and without leadership. Victor Boniface of Leverkusen, the Bundesliga’s rookie of the year in a championship winning side was benched and Onuachu, previously sacked for non performance, was started. How many have raised these pertinent issues?
Please get off Osimhen’s back. Detractors want to rid Super Eagles of its most forceful attacking force, even if not as potent last season as he had been in previous two. O-s-im-hen was a force of nature at Afcon 2024. I beleive he won two Man of the match awards. Unlucky to have three goals disallowed. We saw a less potent attack in the semi and final when he was clearly not fit. He played thru pain. Culturally, Osimhen was rude. Professionally, he was out of order. The matter can and should be handled culturally and professionally. Needs to be as sadly Osimhen was rude to Victor Ikpeba after we went out of the last WC because he felt the former was being extravagant instead of being efficient with chances.
NFF must change its modus operandi and mind set. Nigeria cannot afford to miss out on 2 successive WCs. The FGN has a role to play. Fixation about foreign coach na sensema. Rere de run. Was Peseiro not a foreign coach who handled first two matches – draw at home against Lesotho and a draw away on a neutral ground against Zimbabwe? We are not senile. We can remember. Any new foreign coach cannot and will not qualify Nigeria for the WC. Okay, he has a couple of Afcon qualifiers to get to a) know the possible squad members, and b) try out formation and playing styles. Please lets remember the dissatisfaction from Finidi’s handling of the earlier two friendly matches against Ghana won 2-1 against a 10 man team in 2nd half, and lost 2-0 against Mali. Players grumbled about Finidi; again about team selection and his attitude. Shock, NFF still appointed him Chief Coach. I watched Amaju Pinnick speak up in his favour before the appointment although he conceded that Amunike was very good technically.
Where do we go from here? I really don’t know. For one thing, there is no money to pay any foreigner. Another is who are these likely foreigners and what’s each of them track record? It is most astounding that the NFF has decided to employ a foreign coach but there is nobody named! We are seeing Nigerian wonder! May the Merciful God have mercy on the teeming Nigerians who derive pleasure and happinese from football success, and those of other sports. Amen.
In this situation, I believe Siasia is better than an unknown foreign coach.
If NFF can’t give the job to Amunike, I think is very logical to consider Siasia as the new Super Eagles gaffer.
We don’t need a foreign coach. NFF should stop playing a political game. They should give us Sia1 instead of the foreign coaches that can’t manage their national teams.
Aghahowa is very intelligent and smart thinking person. Our own is the best for the job. It is either Amunike/Siasia or nothing. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
This guy, stay in one place let the thunder that will faya you not miss.
Only last week, you shifted your clamor to foreign coach…..today you are shifting back to local…..moreso a man who has had nothing to do with football as a whole for half a decade.
Infact his last coaching job was the failed 2017 afcon qualification….his 2nd time failure as SE…..Wa, dem send are you to us….? Are you addicted to failure….? Why is it that anywhere they are planing to drag our football backwards, you are always in their midst…?!
At this rate, you are running out of ideas.
You are back to Siasia, whom you abandoned a long time ago. Just as you dropped your Mr No Nonsense Eguavoen and your main man Finidi after their woeful failure.
The pattern is obvious.
When calamity strikes, Omo9ja abandons ship.
There is no money to pay foreigner, abi?
Siasia and Amunike nko? Are they going to work for free? If you are suggesting that it is ok for us to pay them less than we would pay a foreigner, is that not a slap in their face? If there is no money to hire a competent foreign coach, then there is also no money to hire your own. Go and figure that one out.
You dey among those wen dey spoil Super Eagles..when siasia coach last Abi that aminueke. A low budget foreign coach is better than our local coaches. We have big players we need a foreign coach to help us not does coaches that will bring his academy players or his nephew to super Eagles.
You young men think you know it all but I’m sorry you are still learning kę.
I’m trying to change your mentality. You people believe anything white is better than black but that thinking have to change.
Let’s fail or win with our own.
Yes I preferred Siasia to the foreign coaches only Renard is acceptable period. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!0
@ Omo9ja, how about the local coaches start with our U20 or U23 instead of using our Super Eagles as a learning Center.
You (Omo9ja), Odegbami and the rest of the ex-players are working seriously to ensure Nigeria football completely go down the drains.
It’s not that we don’t like our own but let them start from U20 and U23, if they can produce a solid team for us, we will promote them with their squad to Super Eagles.
In the world today, if we are to name two best naija strikers , go to anywhere in the world, after Victor Osimhen, the next name you will hear is Victor Boniface.
But to Finidi, the next name is Victor Onuachu then Victor Moffi lol. The best Naija defender now is Benjamin Tanimu according to Finidi because at a point, Ajayi got substituted, Bassey was moved to the side , Ekong wasn’t invited but Tanimu played all the four games under Finidi. Now we didn’t win any game and suddenly, it’s Osimhen fault.
Some Mad fans have already been carrying rumors that they’ve banned Osimhen from national team now tell me, Ogun no go kee those kind of fans like Osimhen said? As if the attack on players not enough, they enjoy tarnishing one’s image all because we didn’t win matches that he didn’t take any part in? Suddenly, names of coaches are already coming out, our own Salisu is even there. When will all these our ex footballers realize that Nigerian team is not only for them?
There’s is one “mental problem” here, I don’t know what or whom he believes he is .. May be an adviser to NFF or a spoke person , he once called himself a scout. He has never suggested any good solution to any problem on this forum.
Tell him we need a Goal keeper, he’ll say Alampasu. Tell him we need defender, he’ll say Anibaba, tell him we need a striker , he’ll say Fanendo Adi, talk of any coach, today he’ll mention Amunike, tomorrow Siasia. Osimhen then rain causes on some sections of naija fans like this problem child here some of us are getting mad at him. This Mad man here according to him. “I love Rohr as a person but he’s not a good coach “, Amunike is better. Here we are today. We have one that made us realize that Junior Ajayi is better than Osimhen, Nwakali is better than both Mikel and Ndidi combine lol. How far now?
Osimhen is suddenly the talk of the town base on Matches he didn’t take part in.
Ok o!
Hahahaha…if you want to talk to omo9ja and jimmyball talk to them directly…..LMAOoo. Dont go through the corners…LMAOOo.
@Sean a.k.a @Dr.Drey… yes Junior Ajayi till this day is doing well in Egyptian league for Smouha F.C after Pitso forced him out of Al-Ahly where he was a regular keeping Egyptian national team players on the bench as a starter for five straight years… he went on a lengthy injury spell and Pitso brought South Africans… his own people and Ajayi was forced out of Al-Ahly as he never found favour and fair opportunities before Pitso anymore… the likes of Iheanacho and Chukwueze who you always rollout red carpet for in the Eagles… what have become of their game in Eagles in the last 4years? Create healthy and equal opportunities for competition in Eagles and see overhyped players get lost for inefficiency and low outputs…
Hahahaha…Sean is now Dr. Drey again…? After Pompei, Greenturf, Oakfield, Ola, Dennis, it is Sean that is Dr.Drey this time around….LMAOoo.
Was it your quantum algorithm that revealed this to you once again like the previous times…..LMAOooo?
Like I previously said, its like including my name in your comments help you get the clout and validation you so much crave on CSN…..LMAooo.
Sean a.k.a Dr.Drey……LMAOoo
Stop doing drugs Mr…..! Those things are seriously messing up your mind….LMAOoo
hmm very unclever rotfl – dr dry see as yur mumu be? see as you avoid the only wan wey be really you? e easy for yuh abi to bring out likes of Pompei, Greenturf, Oakfield, Ola, Dennis, sean ect but yer mumu nor make you mention yer really names wich is edoman kwa gani? lolz kai! dryman abeg rest lolz
You got me cracking with this comment @Sean.
ROTFL……I beg no make me laff. Junior Ajayi….lol E wo!
NFF Better Find the financial Capacity because we need the best Coach for Nigeria. Otherwise with all this Sort of embarrasing headlines Nigeria Must from Hence forth stop proclaiming to be “Giant of Africa”.. We are fast becoming a country of All talk and no Action (Big mouths that can’t live up to hype, Meaning we are fake and full of Fake hype and arrogance
@Dr.Drey… again let me correct your old assertion. Samson Siasia actually confirmed that Sadiq Umar only got into the 2016 Olympic Football Squad because Junior Ajayi got injured in the leadup to the games… I just want to help you with that one… when we had that exchange sometime around 2020/2021… I tried to pint you then to the fact that Junior Ajayi and Taiwo Awoniyi were the lads who go us the goals to that Olympics… if I remember correctly, because I was stressing that Ajayi being a starter for Al-Ahly deserves his place in the Super Eagles… but you saw him as an inferior player because he plays on the continent even though he was highly regraded at Al-Ahly brimming with loads of Egypt internationals… you said he was like the last on the perking orders for strikers for the Olympic Dream Team of 2016… I will never see Chukwueze or Iheanacho as a superior player to Junior Ajayi… it is now there for all to see that some of these players have just been accorded too much previlege and unfair favours in the national team… the same performance that Iheanacho had against Ghana in Kumasi hopping and puffing was a replica of what he managed against South Africa recently… rudderless and lethargic… for Chukwueze… even AC Milan has found him out to be low-performing one-trick-pony… Lol. The loud call for Peter Olayinka and Junior Ajayi that I was echoing back then was because I see Olayinka and Ajayi as players that can give a better positive and efficient contribution to the Super Eagles than some donkeys who have been there for centuries with low uninspiring outputs… if you play serious football you will know a fake from 1000miles out…
…for the records Junior Ajayi was the only Nigerian player in 2016 to be names on the CAF 11 team of the season… Sallah, Maneh were on that team… Mikel Obi was still playing also. Gernot Rohr enede Super Eagles careers of players who were not his yesmen… one such player is Kayode Olanrewaju… mind you I am a Benue man but truth is as old as the hills…
…ok beforr some smart alec will disregard the juice of my post and cherrypick what he wants to counter… it was CAF 2017 team of the year… oit had William Troost Ekong alongside Junior Ajayi as the only Nigerians in the CAF 11 list… Junior Ajayi was voted the best offensive midfielder in Africa by CAF in 2017… beating the likes of Sadio Mane… yet he was not good enough for oldman Rohr who prefers Samuel Kalu his agency player…
@CSN if you people have an agenda against Nigerian Football progressing for the better, you had better say it! because I don’t understand why you must Publish this type of dumb post, Why give this kind of stupid post EARS!!!! @CSN WHY? What is this you people should be posting about foreign Coaches now, Make Renard know our Job is available even if it is fake news; Get His attention. @CSN We are about to miss 2 World Cups if time is not taking. Enough of all this shoddy Journalism PLEASE!! FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!!!!! OUR IMAGE AND BALL IS AT STAKE HERE!!!!!
Hahahahaha….He has gone to resurect a dead and buried debate….LMAOOo. You sure do like flogging a dead horse.
So after writing this enitre biography of your Junior Ajayi, you are still yet to justify your oprobious fallacy of Ajayi being better than all SE stikers including Dessers, Onuachu and Iheanacho…..LMAOoo.
Ajayi’s best season was at Sfaxien between then and now the SE has had Oliseh, Siasia, Rohr, Egavouen, Peseiro and Finidi…yet it was only Rohr that deemed it fit to invite him to the SE, yet according to you…Rohr killed his club career….LMAOOoo. Can you just learn to comment with your brains rather than with your heart…?
You claim he is superior to Iheancho and Chukwueze, but he has been wandering about the deserts of North Africa like Bolton Wanderers while those two have remained relevant in the best leagues in the world.
One would think you are blabbing on about someone else other than a striker who has hardly clocked 10 league goals in a season in the EGYPTIAN LEAGUE since donkey years he has been playing in that league, despite playing in the biggest club in that league.
Olanrewaju has not even had a stable enough club career to earn a call up to the SE.
The last time we checked, all of Ajayi, Olanrewaju and Olayinka got multiple invitations to the SE and couldn’t even grab a starting shirt or make an impression at any point in the team when they were given their chances, talkmore of even been called “inconsistent” starters.
Your comparisons are at best baseless and at most misplaced.
Your 3 musketeers have been given opportunities and brought nothing spectacular to the table. They were all passers-by and the international football space which is nothing unusual. Many a player end their footballing careers with not more than 5 international caps or less.
Pls Deal with that and move on with your life instead of waking up dead and buried arguments.
In the absence of 2016 CAF best XI Junior Ajayi in the SE, we qualified for the 2018 WC with a game to spare (V.Moses) was amongst the top scorers, qualified for 2019 AFCON with games to spare and won bronze (Igahlo was top scorer), qualified for 20201 AFCON with games to spare (Osihmen was top scorer)…..so please what did we miss in your 3 musketeers…???
Let 10 coaches take over the SE between 2016 and 2026, all 10 will still start Nacho and Samu ahead of your 3 musketeers….LMAOoo
You can make jest of Iheancho and Chuwkweze all you want, but one of them will be playing in the EPL next season and the other will be playing in the Serie A……LMAooo.
Form they say is temporary, Class they say is permanent
Does that make sense to you or you still want to be stuck on fantasies and continue with your futile attempt at getting a dead horse to race…? LMAOooo
@CSN if you people have an agenda against Nigerian Football progressing for the better, you had better say it! because I don’t understand why you must Publish this type of dumb post, Why give this kind of stupid post EARS!!!! @CSN WHY? What is this you people should be posting about foreign Coaches now, Make Renard know our Job is available even if it is fake news; Get His attention. @CSN We are about to miss 2 World Cups if time is not taking. Enough of all this shoddy Journalism PLEASE!! FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!!!!! OUR IMAGE AND BALL IS AT STAKE HERE!!!!!
Some of this ex footballers think that coaching Nigeria is like being appointed as SA to a politician..We speak about local coaches but we do not have a league to produce local coaches..Even the rangers that won a league with 67 points from 37 games,Can you say the coach is good?What formation does he play? Even Finidi that was appointed, who can confidently come out and say this is how his teams play?For us to have steady stream of coaches and players from home, we must develop our league such that if you win our league,come out 2nd or win our FA cup, u are good enough to coaches our national teams..If you play for out top two club teams, u can also get into national team..Our league is the major problem.I laugh when people call Amuneke name..When was the last time he coached? Ex footballers just stay home for years inactive once eagles job comes out, they will crawl from their hideout raising their hands.
Tom Saintfiet former Gambian coach and now manager of the Philippines,is the likely choice of the NFF to thinker the super eagles
What about former Burkina Faso coach Paul Put? He will put the in good effort.
Omo9ja, you are not making sense.
For you, color of skin is the most important thing. Not merit.
You only want a coach with black skin, yet one of the reasons you gave for hiring a black coach suggests that you yourself see black skin as inferior.
Why else would you readily accept to pay your black coach much less than a white coach would have earned? If you really believe black skin is superior to white skin, put your money where your mouth is.
Why don’t you recommend that Siasia and Amuneke should get even more money than a white coach?
How can we have IRE OOO, when we continue down the wrong path?
As long as NFF listens to people like Odegbami and engages these ’94 frauds to manage the SE, we are finished. Let them continue to steal money and advance these nauseous claims that Nigeria doesn’t have money to pay foreign coaches.
We will soon hit 100 on the FIFA ranking.