Sports Minister meets with agent of new Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle

Barring a last-minute change of heart, 46-year-old Malian coach Eric Chelle will be appointed as the new head coach of the Nigerian senior national team before the end of this week, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.

Chelle is the favourite to take the job ahead of Belgium’s Tom Saintfeit and England’s Steve McClaren, who recently took up the vacant post of Jamaica’s national team coach.

Nigeria will offer the former Mali coach a short-term contract that will cover the qualifying period for the African Cup of Nations. The deal will be results-oriented, meaning the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) can terminate the contract if the team’s performance declines.

According to Nigerian journalist Babatunde Ojora, based in France, the coach will meet Nigeria’s Sports Minister, Senator John Enoh, in Paris to finalise the details of the contract. NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau is already in France.

A representative of the French coach will also be present at the meeting, and his mission will be to get the Super Eagles back on track after the disappointment of the last World Cup qualifying matches, where they fell to the Republic of Benin after drawing 1-1 at home against South Africa.