FIFA Council Member, and former President of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Amaju Pinnick, has revealed that he supported the appointment of former Super Eagles coach, Finidi George, despite being an advocate of the team having a foreign coach.
Finidi was unveiled as Super Eagles manager in May but resigned in June after a poor run of games in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
George led the Eagles to a 1-1 draw against South Africa at home in Uyo and a 2-1 loss to Benin Republic in Abidjan, putting Nigeria’s qualification to the World Cup in serious doubt.
Speaking during an interview with Arise News on Wednesday, Pinnick revealed that he supported the appointment of Finidi due to lack of funding by the NFF for a foreign coach.
He said, “But why I supported indigenous coaches in the last selection process was because I communed with NFF, and I was made to understand that they didn’t have the funding for a foreign coach.
“They actually wanted a foreign coach, but at that point, they didn’t have the funding. So they needed to settle, and the transition at that point was for it to be as seamless as possible. It was for them to have a coach that was in the team of [Jose] Peseiro that went to the finals of AFCON, and that was Finidi George.
“There was nothing to it because if it was any other person that was there in that transitional period, would have said yes. They didn’t have the money.”
On his affinity for foreign coaches taking charge of the Super Eagles, Pinnick stated that most indigenous coaches do not command respect compared to their foreign counterparts.
His words: “Everybody knows that I’ve always advocated a foreign coach when I was president of NFF, and I had my reasons.
“Even before I got into NFF, I observed very clearly that Nigerian coaches have knowledge and abilities, but it goes beyond that in managing players. One thing that is elemental when you want to manage a player is respect; do they have respect for the coaches?” he asked.
“And no matter how high these players turned coaches have played, the current players possibly do not have that kind of respect. I just know, and that’s just one reason.”
