Former Porto and Sporting CP boss José Peseiro has been named the new coach of Nigeria but he will only take charge after the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
The 61-year-old, who resigned as Venezuela coach in August due to unpaid wages, replaces Gernot Rohr who was sacked two weeks ago.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) who did not give any details about Peseiro’s contract, added that interim manager “Augustin Eguavoen will lead the Super Eagles to the AFCON 2021” while the new coach would be in Cameroon “only playing the role of an observer.”
The NFF in a statement said, “It was unanimously agreed that the AFCON is a good avenue for Mr Peseiro to launch a working relationship with Mr Eguavoen, who will revert to his role as Technical Director (hence Mr Peseiro’s immediate boss) after the AFCON”.
Peseiro’s first game in charge will be during the African World Cup play-offs in March, where the former assistant of Carlos Queiroz at Real Madrid will be hoping to seal a seventh World Cup appearance for the West African nation.
NFF president, Amaju Pinnick had boldly claimed, this month, that he spoke with Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger for guidance during his quest for a new foreign manager for the three-time African champions. Peseiro takes over a team that struggled and came under intense criticism due to poor results against lower-ranked opponents during 2022 World Cup qualifying.
The new man’s biggest success came during the first of two spells at Sporting CP in the 2004/05 season. He led them to third place in the Portuguese league and to the UEFA Cup final but resigned early, the following season, after some poor results.