The search for a new coach for the Super Eagles takes an unexpected turn despite the FG agreeing to pay his salary

The search for a new coach for the Nigerian senior national team has taken an unexpected turn in recent days with the two main contenders not interested in taking the job, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Nigeria will head into the 2025 AFCON qualifiers with Austine Eguavoen as interim coach after the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) failed to appoint a replacement for Finidi George, who stepped down two months ago.

A week ago, the NFF selected former Sweden coach Janne Andersson as the man for the job and immediately began talks to award him a contract just in time for the match against Benin Republic on September 7 and Rwanda three days later.

Those plans fell through, as we exclusively reported, with the 61-year-old turning down the offer due to some of the terms of the proposed contract, prompting the NFF to once again turn its attention to Hervé Renard, who recently stepped down from his role as coach of the France women’s team.

Like Andersson, he too turned down the offer leaving the NFF with no choice but to bring Andersson back, prompting the coach to give an interview two days ago saying that talks are still ongoing.

However, recent reports from sources say the deal is all but dead and the NFF may be forced to go back and choose one of the two, Tom Saintfeit and Eric Chelle, who were the initial leading candidates for the job.

This latest development follows the approval by the Nigerian federal government to pay the salary of the new coach. The NFF has also finalised an agreement with a private company to assist in the same.

All decisions and talks on a new coach have been put on hold until after the September games, which as we exclusively reported will be handled by NFF technical director Eguavoen alongside other Nigerian assistants likely to include Ladan Bosso, Samson Siasia and Fidelis Ilechukwu.