German coach Bruno Labbadia has turned down Nigeria’s offer as head coach of the Super Eagles.
This is coming four days after Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Ibrahim Gusau went public with a statement on Tuesday via X to announce the agreement with the former striker.
According to the German sports platform, Kicker, the 58-year-old had been negotiating with the NFF for a week and, decided against a contract on Friday.
Labbadia said he had largely reached agreement on the key financial details with NFF chiefs, but organizational questions were still open.
The hasty announcement by the NFF’s leadership is said to have been one of the reasons why Labbadia canceled on Friday, in addition to the details that still need to be clarified.
The talks about a commitment began last weekend and were initially very productive – but the commitment or even a signature from the coach, as reported by the association, never came.
Labbadia, who has a reputation in the Bundesliga as a man for particularly difficult cases after successful rescue missions at Hamburger SV, VfL Wolfsburg, and Hertha BSC, among others, was attracted by the challenging task in Nigeria.
