Former Super Eagles coach, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, has called on stakeholders, particularly the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Sports Ministry, to establish modern coaching programs for trainers at all levels to improve the country’s performance in international competitions.
Onigbinde attributed Nigeria’s continued struggles in continental championships to the lack of quality coaching programs to keep coaches up-to-date with modern football trends.
Onigbinde believes that the country can produce good coaches capable of competing successfully with their counterparts overseas, but this can only happen when the NFF and other stakeholders in football realize the importance of grooming and training coaches.
He emphasized the need for the NFF to pay close attention to the training and retraining of coaches in addition to developing players.
While he refused to be drawn into the debate of whether clubs are better served by foreign coaches, Onigbinde insisted that the decision to employ foreign coaches for continental engagements should be left to the clubs.
He stated that Nigerian coaches need to be helped and encouraged to expose themselves to modern trends in football to achieve success.
Onigbinde’s comments came after Rivers United’s defeat by Tanzania’s Young African FC in the CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinals. Speaking on his team’s performance against the East Africans, Rivers United Coach, Stanley Eguma, confessed that tactical errors led to his team’s failure against Young Africans FC.
Eguma stated that his team was committed to winning the away game, but tactical mistakes and players’ failure to convert their chances affected the team.
Despite Rivers United’s elimination, Eguma considered reaching the quarterfinals of the CAF Confederation Cup a big achievement for Nigeria.
He stated that his team would continue to strive for success in the competition and expressed his belief that they would win the trophy in the future.
