Stephen Keshi has been removed as head coach of Nigeria and replaced by a “consortium” of coaches for the side’s final two African Nations Cup qualifiers next month.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed the move in a statement on Thursday, despite Keshi leading the Super Eagles to a 3-1 victory over Sudan in Abuja the previous evening, a result that got their qualification campaign back on track.
The consortium will be led by Shaibu Amodu, who returns to the helm for a fifth time, having qualified the side for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa before being replaced by Swede Lars Lagerback.
Salisu Yusuf, Gbenga Ogunbote and Aloysius Agu are the other coaches involved in the group to lead the reigning African champions.
They will be in charge for next month’s final two qualifiers — away at Congo and home to South Africa — but will then be replaced by an overseas coach, the NFF also confirmed.
“The committee, unanimously, praised the contributions of the technical crew of the senior national team, led by Stephen Keshi, to the glorious accomplishments of the team in the past three years and hailed Keshi, Daniel Amokachi and Ike Shorounmu as true national heroes,” the NFF statement said.
“However, in the interest of Nigeria football and the desire to ensure qualification for the 2015 African Nations Cup finals, the committee decided to relieve them of their duties with immediate effect.”
Keshi, a former captain of the national team, led the side to the 2013 Nations Cup title in South Africa and also qualified the Super Eagles for the World Cup in Brazil this year, where they reached the second round before losing to France.
Nigeria’s victory over Sudan left them four points behind leaders South Africa and three behind second-placed Congo in their qualification group with the top two sides, as well as the best third-place finisher, advancing to the finals in Morocco.
(Reuters)
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Keshi sacked as Nigeria put ‘consortium’ in charge |
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