Ex-France World Cup Winning Coach, Blanc, Leads Race For Super Eagles’ Job

Ex-France World Cup Winning Coach, Blanc, Leads Race For Super Eagles’ Job

...Valverde, Cocu, Paseiro also on the card

By Editor

The World Cup winning coach of France in 1998, Laurent Blanc, is top on the list of four coaches recommended to the board of the Nigeria Football Federation as the next manager of the Super Eagles.

Blanc, according to authoritative sources, is one of the foreign football coaches who applied for the Eagles job which has been vacant after the NFF fired the Austin Eguavoen-led technical crew that led Nigeria to the Qatar 2022 World Cup ouster in the playoff against Ghana.

The Eagles drew 0-0 in Kumasi only to also draw 1-1 in Abuja and so the away goal was enough for the Ghanaians to proceed to the Mundial scheduled to start in November.

Apart of being the Manager of France twice, Blanc also coached Bordeaux and Paris Saint German in the French top flight league and for now he is top on the list of those aspiring to take the Super Eagles to the next level. Ernesto Valverde, Philip Cocu and Jose Persseiro are the other coaches on the cards for the vacant Eagles job.

He was a former Barcelona coach who also managed Valencia, Olypiacos, Espanyol and Athletico Bilbao. Cocu, an assistant manager with Holland between 2008 and 2012 is also a former coach of PSV, Fernabache and Derby County.

Peseiro, a former coach of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela is also a former manager of Sporting CP, Braga, Al Ahly, Al Hital and an assistant coach in Real Madrid. After a meeting on Friday in Abuja, the technical committee of the NFF led by Ahmed Yusuf recommended Blanc, Verlverde, Cocu and Peseiro to the football body.

The NFF board is expected to pick a new manager for the Eagles among the four and also decide the Nigerians that will work with the foreign coach. It is expected that later in the week, a decision could be reached by the NFF on the way forward for the country’s football managerial positions.

-NewTelegraph