Uche Amunike
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has just announced former Nigerian World Cup star and former Under-20 Boys’ Head Coach and international football player, Emmanuel Amuneke as Assistant to Augustine Eguavoen, Head Coach of the Nigerian Super Eagles.
This disclosure was made via a statement signed by the NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, who stated that the appointment was part of the move made by the NFF to reconstitute the Technical Committee of the national team.
It partly reads: ‘The NFF Board has approved a recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee retaining Augustine Eguavoen as Technical Director/Technical Adviser (interim) while Emmanuel Amuneke becomes the immediate assistant to the Chief Coach of the Super Eagles’.
According to the new appointments, Augustine Eguavoen remains the interim Technical Director/Technical Adviser;
Emmanuel Amuneke is 1st Assistant to him; Salisu Yusuf is 2nd Assistant/Chief Coach, CHAN, while
Joseph Yobo is 3rd Assistant. On his part, Aloysius Agu remains Goalkeepers’ Trainer.
Sanusi affirmed: ‘We acknowledge and appreciate the interest that Mr Jose Peseiro has shown in Nigeria Football during our very cordial discussions and have absolutely no doubt about his capacity. We believe that perhaps in the future, there could be an opportunity to work with him’.
He however concluded that the positive performance of the Nigerian Super Eagles at the recently concluded African Cup of Nations (AFCON) gave Nigerians hope and boosted their confidence in the present coaching crew to qualify Nigeria for the World Cup in Qatar.
This is why they have decided to accept the recommendation made by the Technical and Developmental Committee to retain the coaching crew headed by Augustine Eguavoen, while strengthening it with the addition of the new assistant Head Coach, Emmanuel Amuneke.
Recall that Amuneke was former African Footballer of the Year and a member of both the FIFA and CAF Technical Study Groups. He is one of the most famous footballers from Nigeria and scored the two goals that won Nigeria the 1994 African Cup of Nations final match against Zambia in Tunis. He also scored the goal that won Nigeria and Africa’s first Olympic football Gold Medal in 1996 and took part in the 1994 and 1996 FIFA world cup finals, scoring two goals in USA 1994.
As a Coach, Amuneke also qualified Tanzania for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt and led the Taifa Stars to the finals.
The need for the reconstitution came soon after the outing of the Nigerian Super Eagles at the 33rd Africa cup of Nations final match in Cameroon and especially as the potentially-explosive FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 playoff against the Black Stars of Ghana comes up next month.
Emmanuel Amuneke is a Nigerian professional football manager and former professional football player who played as a Winger for the Nigerian Super Eagles. In 1996, he won the award of BBC African footballer of the year. His younger brothers, Kingsley and Kevin were also footballers who played for several years in Portugal among other countries. He is married with children.
