Why we can’t secure Labbadia as Super Eagles coach —NFF

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has revealed the reasons why the process to secure Bruno Labbadia as Super Eagles coach failed despite an official announcement.

Ripples Nigeria recalls that the NFF announced on Tuesday that the services of Labbadia had been secured as the new national team boss.

However reports on Friday revealed that a deal had not been reached, and former Germany star Labbadia had pulled out of the agreement.

On Friday night, NFF president Ibrahim Musa Gusau said the strict regulations of German tax authorities were the reason they could not proceed with the deal.

He said: “We have been discussing the tax issue for the last three days, and I told him clearly that there is no way the NFF will agree to offset the percentage of tax related to his salary that the German tax authorities will demand.

Also Read: Labbadia reverses course, steps down as Super Eagles coach

“It is impossible for us to bear the responsibility of spending more money, between 32% to 40% of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wages.

“The NFF and Mr Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the Super Eagles Head Coach.

“Tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue arose.

“We tried our best to be flexible in the discussions, but he insisted that the NFF pay the full tax. We could not do that,” he said.

In the event, NFF Technical Director, Coach Augustine Eguavoen will now lead the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Benin Republic (Uyo, September 7) and Rwanda (Kigali, September 10).

This will be Eguavoen’s fourth stint in charge of the three-time African champions, having previously been in charge in 2005-07, 2010 and 2022.

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