The deal between the Nigeria Football Federation and new Super Eagles Coach, Bruno Labbadia, has crumbled.
This leaves Coach Augustine Eguavoen with the task of leading the Eagles to their Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers next week.
The NFF had announced on Tuesday it had reached an agreement with German tactician to become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles.
However, a statement by Ademola Olajire, NFF’s Director of Communications, on Friday quoted the President of the football body, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, as saying that the deal between the NFF and Labbadia had been botched.
Gusau explained that stringent regulations of German tax authorities had conspired to abort the agreement between the NFF and Coach Labbadia.
He said: “We have been on the tax issue for the past three days.
“I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF will agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities.
“It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32 percent to 40 percent of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage.
“The NFF and Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles.
“The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up.
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“We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well.
“We simply cannot do that.”
Gusau added that with the latest development, Eguavoen, the Technical Director of the NFF, will now take charge of the Super Eagles.
Eguavoen will lead the team for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State on September 7 and Kigali, Rwanda on September 10.
The News Agency of Nigeria is reporting that this would be Eguavoen’s fourth stint in charge of the three-time African champions after earlier experiences in 2005 to 2007, 2010 and 2022.
