The Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Alhaji Shehu Dikko has revealed why the football body decided to appoint Jose Peseiro as the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria.
Yesterday, the Portuguese was handed the reins of managing the Super Eagles with his tenure to start after the Africa Cup of Nations per a communique released by the NFF after their meeting yesterday.
“The Executive Committee endorsed a proposal for the appointment of Jose Peseiro as the new Head Coach of the Super Eagles,” a statement from the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) said on Wednesday.
Speaking on the decision, Dikko said his experience worked in his favour as he has coached in several continents hence won’t struggle to get use to what his job entails as coach of Nigeria.
“He has coached across the world, in Asia, in Europe, South America, in Africa,” Dikko told ESPN.
“He has worked with big coaches like (Jose) Mourinho and (Carlos) Queiroz, coached at a big club like Real Madrid, coached big players and small players, coached in the World Cup qualifiers, UEFA Cup, UEFA Champions League and so on. He is also well educated, with a masters degree in sports science.
“He might not have won anything, but we believe he will bring value to our team.”
He said contrary to speculations, Roma coach Jose Mourinho didn’t influence his choice as coach but the football house spoke with the Portuguese coach as Peseiro has his name on his CV as his referee, same as the other two coaches who filed in for the job.
“Among the coaches who applied for the job, three of them listed Mourinho as their reference, including Peseiro and we spoke to him based on that and he gave a glowing reference.”
The coach will work with a short term contract according to Dikko with a clear brief on qualifying Nigeria for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with the Super Eagles set to play in a two legged play off next year.
“If he does not qualify us for this World Cup, we will review the situation objectively and make a decision based on that,” Dikko said.
