Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Austin Eguavoen, has denied reports that he has stepped down as the interim coach of the Super Eagles following their recent Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying matches.
Eguavoen was temporarily appointed to lead the team in their 2025 AFCON qualifiers against the Benin Republic and Rwanda due to the NFF’s failure to secure German coach Bruno Labbadia, reportedly due to complicated German tax regulations.
Eguavoen’s appointment was officially announced with a statement that said, “Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Coach Augustine Eguavoen, will now take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Uyo, September 7) and Rwanda (Kigali, September 10).”
In his first game in charge, Eguavoen led the Super Eagles to a 3-0 victory over the Benin Republic in Uyo. However, the team was held to a goalless draw by Rwanda in Kigali during the second match of the series.
Following the draw, rumors began circulating that Eguavoen had stepped down as interim coach. Addressing these rumors upon his arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, Eguavoen dismissed the reports.
“It’s quite unfortunate that people just trigger something that is not correct. And the situation we are in now, we don’t need negative stories,” Eguavoen said on arrival at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja in a media chat.
“I only talked about sitting down with the hierarchy of the federation after these two games and we will see how to go about prosecuting the next games.
“But when I saw that story I was worried. Whatever people are reading out there aren’t correct. I’m still very much in charge. I’m the Technical Director of the NFF, saddled with the responsibility of taking the Super Eagles at this moment,” he said.
