With the recent appointment of 47 year-old UEFA Pro Licenced Franco-Malian, Èric Seykou Chelle, as the coach of Nigeria’s senior male national team, Super Eagles, and the observed public opinion it is generating, a group, Sport Integrity Foundation also known as Integrity Group, has appealed to Nigerians to support the appointment of new Super Eagles coach, Eric Seykou Chelles by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
A statement signed by
Godwin Dele, Secretary, Integrity Group, in Abuja said the Group was able to follow to the latter the process the Football House embarked on before the announcement of Chelles as Super Eagles head coach.
The statement added that the NFF listened to the cry of Nigerians to appoint a substantive coach for the senior male football team to prosecute the remaining 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
“Our investigation revealed that due process was followed in the conduct leading to the announcement of Chelle as the national team coach. Expertise and recommendation of the Technical Department was followed by inputs of the technical sub-committee and ratification by the board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
“We discovered that tactical sagacity and economic viability was prioritised by the NFF before deciding on the choice of the coach. Considering the early yearnings of the public that the NFF appoint a substantive coach before returning for the World Cup qualifiers in March, the decision to hire Èric Chelle was done in the best interest of Nigerian football.
“We hereby urge Nigerians not to be discriminative of the Franco-Malian as this will be against the ethos of sporting integrity and global practicability of sports.
“We also noticed that Chelle belongs to the golden age of African football where former African internationals between age 40 and 48 are dominating football on the continent, winning AFCON titles and qualifying African national teams for the World Cup. Ex-internationals such as Aliou Cisse, Emerse Fae, Otto Ado, Walid Regragui, Rigobert Song all are within this age bracket.
“We can recollect the way the late Stephen Keshi was given the opportunity to lead Hawks of Togo on three different stints as coach, and Eagles of Mali between 2008-2010. Also, Emmanuel Amuneke was given the chance in Tanzania.
“We therefore call on every football-loving Nigerians to get behind Eric Chelle and give him all the support and cooperation to navigate the World Cup qualifiers and come out with constructive criticisms to make him succeed and qualify for the Mundial next year to be jointly co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. If Chelle succeeds we all succeed.”
