Official: Former Ajax Amsterdam winger Finidi appointed as Super Eagles coach 

With a statement on their official website, the Nigeria Football Federation have announced the appointment of former Ajax Amsterdam winger Finidi George as head coach of the senior national team, the Super Eagles.

The Nigerian Federation had been on the lookout for a new coach since the end of February following the expiration of Jose Peseiro's contract and have now announced Finidi as his successor. 

Finidi is relatively inexperienced as a top level coach although he was assistant to Jose Peseiro for twenty months. 

The 53-year-old was in the Super Eagles dugout on an interim basis in March when the national team faced off with West African rivals Ghana and Mali in back-to-back international friendlies.

The 1994 Africa Cup of Nations winner has been coaching Enyimba since 2021 and guided the Peoples' Elephant to the NPFL title two years later. 

The first assignment for Finidi, who won the Champions League with Ajax in 1995, is to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. 

Nigeria will face South Africa and Benin in June, and must win both matches as they are only third in the group behind Rwanda and South Africa. 

He scored the goal that qualified Nigeria for their first World Cup, when he put the Super Eagles ahead against hosts Algeria in a crucial qualifier in Algiers on 8th October 1993.

The match eventually ended 1-1 and earned Nigeria a ticket to the finals in the United States of America. 

A two-time World Cupper, Finidi also represented Sharks, Real Betis, Mallorca and Ipswich Town during his playing days. 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

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