The Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Coach Augustine Eguavoen is to take charge of the Super Eagles, following the disappointing withdrawal of the newly appointed Coach, Bruno Labbadia due to tax issues.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said, Eguavoen would take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic in Uyo, on 7th September and Rwanda, Kigali, on 10th September, 2024.
On Labbadia, NFF President, Ibrahim Gusau blamed his exit on tax issues on his salary, of which he said, the federation could not offset.
He explained that the issue of offsetting the coach’s tax was not part of the initial agreement before the announcement of his appointment.
“We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF will agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities. It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32% to 40% of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage.
“The NFF and Mr. Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up.
“We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that,” President of NFF, Gusau, said on Friday evening”, the NFF President said.
Recall that Eguavoen stepped down as the Technical Adviser of the national team following the failure of the team to qualify for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Ghana’s Black Stars beat the Super Eagles to a place in Qatar by qualifying via the away goals rule. This was after securing a 1-1 draw in Abuja after the barren draw in Kumasi.
