Caretaker Coach Salisu Yusuf, Ethiopian coach Tom Sainfiet, and Frenchman Paul Le Guen, made the all awaited shortlist as candidates for the position of Super Eagles’ Head Coach.
The Nigerian Football Federation on Friday at the Glass House, revealed this after screening over 20 applications received by the the NFF Technical and Development Committee.
Belgian Saintfiet, 43, coached the National Teams of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Yemen, Malawi and Togo, and also worked with the Qatar U-17 side, Young Africans FC of Tanzania and Free State Stars FC in South Africa.
Le Guen, 52, played for Brest, Nantes and Paris Saint Germain and won 17 caps for France, before coaching Rennes, Lyon, PSG (in France) and Glasgow Rangers (in Scotland). He qualified the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon for the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals and also coached Oman.
While Yusuf, 54, was capped by Nigeria at U20 level, won FA Cup titles with El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri as a player and coached top clubs Kano Pillars, El-Kanemi Warriors and Enyimba FC. He assisted Super Eagles’ chiefs Samson Siasia and Stephen Keshi (of blessed memory), and was caretaker coach for two friendlies that the Eagles won against Mali and Luxembourg in Europe at the end of May.
The federation further confirmed on its website through the Chairman of the Technical and Development Committee, Chris Green, that the list was pruned with a set criteria before arriving at the final three.
All 3 shortlisted candidates will be interviewed on July 18, and the substantive @NGSuperEagles coach named on the same day
— Colin NOT Collins 🇳🇬🇺🇸 (@ColinUdoh) July 8, 2016
Among those who showed interest in coaching the three –time African champions are Giovanni Solinas, Saintfiet, Hey Antoine, Mark Wotte, Yusuf, Ernesto Paulo Calvinho, Dorian Marin, Le Guen, Miodrag Jesic, Perry Hansen, Ove Pedersen, Adebayo Lateef Kola, Sylvanus Okpala, Peter Ijeh, Vladimir Petrovic-Pizon, Lodewijk de Kruif, Kenichi Yatsuhashi, Bjorn Frank Peters and Ricki Herbert.
It could be recalled that the federation recently made public its effort in sourcing for funds to cover the salaries of the foreign coach it looks to employs. Meanwhile, the sports ministry has constantly made it clear that the government would not help out with paying for an expatriate coach.
