Eguavoen’s appointment shows that Nigerian football will never make it

A few days ago, an unprecedented thing happened in Nigerian football as the whole board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) resigned following the failures of the Super Eagles, Super Falcons, and other Nigerian national teams. 

To someone who is not Nigerian, it would seem normal for an organisation to resign after failing to meet their objectives, but as a Nigerian, this move is unprecedented because we live in a society where there are no consequences for failure, especially if you are a political leader or the head of an organisation. 

This is why the resignation of the whole NFF board is unprecedented and felt like the beginning of a new dawn for Nigerian football. The moment the news filtered out, it felt like a huge reform was happening and change was coming to Nigerian football. 

However, while it is true that this is the first time we are seeing leaders take accountability, the recent appointment of Austin Eguavoen as the new Super Falcons coach shows that their resignation will not bring the wholesome change and reform Nigerian football fans want. 

Eguavoen was announced as the interim coach for the Super Falcons ahead of their Olympic qualifiers against Comoros in October. However, the appointment beggars belief, as this man is part of the reason Nigerian football is in its current state and should have gone with the NFF board. 

In fairness, it is only right for Eguavoen to take over that role, considering that is part of his job as NFF’s technical adviser.

However, the problem is that he has been in this role for over five years, meaning he is part of the same NFF organisation that oversaw Super Eagles' back-to-back failures to qualify for the World Cup. 

In fact, he was solely responsible for the Super Eagles' failure to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar because he was in charge of Nigeria’s playoff games against Ghana, which they lost on away goals. 

It could even be argued that he was responsible for the team’s failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as Nigeria underwent multiple managerial changes during the qualifying campaign, which ultimately cost the team a spot in North America. 

As NFF’s technical adviser, part of Eguavoen’s duties was to hire a competent coach who could help Nigeria qualify for the 2026 World Cup, but it was clear that he was incompetent in that regard. 

While he did eventually settle on Eric Chelle, who tried to salvage the situation, the decision to arrive at a permanent solution a year earlier showed that Eguavoen was not fit for his role as NFF’s technical adviser. 

This is a man who has failed many times, yet the reward for his failure has always been to keep him in the same job.

Now, he has been tasked with managing the Super Falcons in the Olympic qualifiers after the team failed to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time in history. 

This is a decision that should be called into question because a major reason why the Super Falcons will not play at the World Cup is that Eguavoen and the whole NFF team failed to give the ten-time African champions the right resources they needed. 

The coaching department was not provided with enough tactical intel, and the team also did not play enough friendly games going into the WAFCON, which also served as qualification for the World Cup. 

Despite Nigeria’s pedigree on the continent, it was clear that the Super Falcons were set up for failure going into the tournament, thanks to Eguavoen and his team. 

Yet the reward for his incompetence is an even bigger role on the team, while he also keeps his job as technical adviser.

This can only happen in a country like Nigeria, which shows that the NFF Ibrahim Gusau board resignation was not a case of leaders taking accountability but a situation of someone taking the fall. 

If football administrators in Nigeria are indeed serious about bringing serious change to Nigerian football, forcing someone to take the fall is not going to do it. There has to be a proper clean-up from top to bottom, starting with people like Eguavoen. 

The country cannot keep recycling the same old names responsible for the mess while hoping for a different account. People like Eguavoen and Christopher Danjuma have no business in running Nigerian football affairs anymore. 

There are more than enough qualified people who can do a better job than the names the country keeps recycling. It is also important to note these old heads are just part of a larger problem facing Nigerian football. 

For there to be proper reform, the administrators need to tackle the issues from the grassroots and also think long-term. There has to be proper developmental training for coaches and players in the grassroots. 

It is also time to take player development and welfare seriously, especially for the age-grade teams. There also has to be a proper structure in place for this reform to be a success because without that, Nigerian football will never make it out of the hood.