Former Super Eagles forward George stepped down earlier this year only two matches into a two-year contract following a poor start to World Cup qualification.
Bruno Labbadia: Playing and Coaching Career
Born in Darmstadt, Germany on 8th February 1966, Labbadia won two caps for Die Mannschaft in his playing career that took him through clubs such as home-town team Darmstadt 98, Hamburger SV, FC Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, FC Cologne, Werder Bremen, Armenia Bielefeld and Karlsruher SC, triumphed in the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich as a player in 1994.
History Of German Coaches In Nigeria National Team
Following in the footsteps of other Germans who have coached Nigeria, Labbadia hopes to improve on Manfred Hoeners’ runner-up finish in 1988.
Another German coach, Gernot Rohr won AFCON bronze in 2019 and he is the only German coach to qualify Nigeria to the FIFA World Cup.
He is only the sixth German, after Karl-Heinz Marotzke (who had two stints between 1970 and 1974), Gottlieb Göller (1981), Manfred Höner (1988-1989), Berti Vogts (2007-2008) and Gernot Rohr (2016-2021) to lead the Super Eagles.
The Italian-born German coach was last in charge of Stuttgart in the 2022/23 Bundesliga season.
Apart from Nigeria, Germany has the highest number of nationals to have coached Nigeria with six.
England and the Netherlands have three coaches to have handled Nigeria since 1949.
LIST OF SUPER EAGLES’ COACHES IN HISTORY
John Finch (England) – 1949
Daniel Anyiam (Nigeria) – 1954-1956; 1964-1965
Les Courtier (England) – 1956-1960
Moshe Beit Halevi (Israel) – 1960-1961
George Vardar (Hungary) – 1961-1963
Joey Blackwell (England) – 1963 – 1964
József Ember (Hungary) – 1965-1968
Sabino Barinaga (Spain) – 1968-1969
Peter ‘Eto’ Amaechina (Nigeria) – 1969-1970
Karl-Heinz Marotzke (Germany) – 1970-1971; 1974
Jorge Penna (Brazil) – 1972-1973
Jelisavčić ‘Father Tiko’ Tihomir (Yugoslavia) – 1974-1978
Otto Glória (Brazil) – 1979-1982
Gottlieb Göller (Germany) – 1981
Adegboye Onigbinde (Nigeria) – 1983-1984; 2002
Chris Udemezue (Nigeria) – 1984-1986
Patrick Ekeji (Nigeria) – 1985
Paul Hamilton (Nigeria) – 1987; 1989
Manfred Höner (Germany) – 1988-1989
Clemens Westerhof (Netherlands) – 1989-1994
Amodu Shaibu (Nigeria) – 1994-1995; 1996-1997; 2001-2002; 2008-2010
Johannes Bonfrere (Netherlands) – 1995-1996; 1999-2001
Philippe Troussier (France) – 1997
Monday Sinclair (Nigeria) – 1997-1998
Bora Milutinović (Yugoslavia) – 1998
Thijs Libregts (Netherlands) – 1999
Christian Chukwu (Nigeria) – 2002-2005
Augustine Eguavoen (Nigeria) – 2005-2007; 2010; 2022
Berti Vogts (Germany) – 2007-2008
Lars Lagerbäck (Sweden) – 2010
Samson Siasia (Nigeria) – 2010-2011; 2016
Stephen Keshi (Nigeria) – 2011-2014; 2015
Sunday Oliseh (Nigeria) – 2015-2016
Gernot Rohr (Germany) – 2016-2021
José Peseiro (Portugal) – 2022-2024
Finidi George (Nigeria) – 2024
Bruno Labbadia (Germany) – 2024-?