The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Super Eagles

  • Super Eagles get new kit sponsors

    Super Eagles get new kit sponsors

    AMS Kit manufacturing company is set to replace Adidas as the new kit sponsors of the Super Eagles following the expiration of Nigeria deal with the German-based Sportswear giant.

    The company displayed their proposed design for the Super Eagles on their social media feed saying their proposal is based on news of the Super Eagles yet to get a kit supplier.

    In August Adidas confirmed they will not be renewing their deal with Nigeria which expired in December and AMS that presently kits Niger Republic and Sudan appear to be in touch with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) who claim they are in talks with Adidas to renew their deal with Nigeria.

    “We are returning to Adidas for a fresh contract. I am positive that they will still be our kits sponsors and suppliers for a fresh deal. I can tell you that we are talking to them to sign a new contract before the end of December when the current deal runs out,” said President Amaju Pinnick in December.

    However, it appears talks have stalled and AMS are currently proposing to replace Adidas.

  • Eagles didn’t deserve to lose against Ivory Coast – Kwambe

    Eagles didn’t deserve to lose against Ivory Coast – Kwambe

    Solomon Kwambe has said the Nigeria ‘B’ team did not deserve to lose to star-studded Cote d’Ivoire in Sunday’s friendly in Abu Dhabi.

    The African Nations Cup-bound Cote d’ivoire needed an 84th minute goal by Salomon Kalou to beat the Nigeria second-string side, africanFootball.com reports.

    Kwambe, who will feature for Warri Wolves on loan from Sunshine Stars in the new season, said the boys played according to instructions and gave a good account of themselves and would not have lost the game but for a defensive error.

    “It was a good and tough game for us, though we lost,” said Kwambe.

    “We did not deserve to lose the game because we played well according to instruction, but just a little bit of loss of concentration cost us the game.”

    He assured Nigerians of better display against Sudan on Saturday in Dubai.

    “We have one more game here, that is against Sudan. We will give our best and do better than we did against Cote d’Ivoire and go for victory,” he promised.

  • We made Keshi a new offer – Pinnick

    We made Keshi a new offer – Pinnick

    President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, has confirmed that they have begun contract talks with out-of-contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi.

    Keshi’s contract ended after Nigeria’s exit at the last World Cup in Brazil and even though he handled the team albeit on a temporary basis during Nigeria’s ill-fated Africa Cup of Nations 2015 qualifying campaign, the Glass House had yet to offer him fresh terms.

    However, weeks after confirming that Keshi would continue as the Super Eagles coach, Pinnick has now confirmed that they have started contract talks with the “Big Boss.”

    “We have a very peculiar nature in Nigeria and we don’t want a situation where we run into problems but we have made an offer to him and he says he doesn’t like it,” Pinnick told sl10.ng.

    “He has sent it back to us and it will go back to our legal department and they’ll look at the implications and we shall insert other clauses to see if he will accept them.

    “So to us, we want to be very thorough and that is why it is taking this long but I can assure you that very soon that everything about the technical crew will come to an end.”

    The Pinnick led NFF had earlier sacked Keshi after Nigeria defeated Sudan 3-1 during the 2015 AFCON qualifiers, but the board was forced to reinstate him after coming under serious pressure and now seem to be on the verge of re-signing the former Nigeria captain to what is believed to be a four year contract worth N84million.

  • ABU DHABI FRIENDLY MATCHES: Eagles will wear Adidas kits – NFF

    ABU DHABI FRIENDLY MATCHES: Eagles will wear Adidas kits – NFF

     • Dispel brand’s sue threat 

    Super Eagles will don Adidas kits during the proposed international friendly matches in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, an official has said.

    The home-based Eagles are expected to play the Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire and Falcons of Sudan in the two games slated for January 11 and 17.

    SportingLife understands that the Adidas contracts with Nigeria ended on December 31, 2014 and the sportswear manufacturing giants refused to renew the contract.

    There were reports in the media that Adidas has threatened to sue the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should any of Nigeria’s national team wear Adidas kits after the end of the duration of contract.

    In an exclusive chat with SportingLife, NFF Director of Marketing, Idris Adama said Nigeria teams will continue to  wear Adidas kits until the federation gets another sponsor.

    He said the federation never received a threat from Adidas for wearing their brand.

    “The contract we signed with Adidas ended December 31, 2014 and they were not interested in renewing the deal again. We don’t have any crisis with them. It is normal anywhere when you are in a contract, you can renew it and you can also choose not to continue with the contract. So there was no threat from Adidas,” Adama told SportingLife.

    “The Super Eagles are going to wear Adidas in Abu Dhabi and our national teams will continue to wear the brand until we get another sponsor. We didn’t receive any threat letter from Adidas. All the threat reports are media works.”

    Adama also revealed that the federation has been making frantic efforts in getting a new sponsor for the national teams.

    “We are still looking for another sponsor and I believe very soon we will get one. But as I said we will continue to wear Adidas before we  find a new sponsor.”

  • NFF lines up six friendlies for Eagles in 2015

    NFF lines up six friendlies for Eagles in 2015

    The Nigeria Football Federation has proposed six “Grade A” friendly matches for the Super Eagles in the New Year, AfricanFootball.com reports.

    The matches include the much-advertised Brazil friendly in Uyo billed for March.

    There will be five other matches one of which will also be played in Nigeria.

    The NFF leadership has promised to make use of all the FIFA friendly windows in 2015 as the African champions rebuild after the failure to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

    The other FIFA windows are – June 8-16, August 31 to September 8, October 5-13 and November 9-17.

    These matches are outside the two AFCON warm-ups against Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan in Abu Dhabi early next month, which will be played by players from the domestic league.

  • BRAND SUPER EAGLES BIGGER THAN ANY NIGERIAN COACH – Mike Obiku

    BRAND SUPER EAGLES BIGGER THAN ANY NIGERIAN COACH – Mike Obiku

    Former Super Eagles attacker, Mike Obiku as insisted on the service of a foreign coach for the Super Eagles of Nigeria.

    Following the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the next AFCON Championship in Equatorial Guinea, and amidst speculations trailing the technical ability of the team’s handler, Coach Stephen Keshi, an ex-international, who is also a UEFA licensed coach, Mike Obiku, has said a good foreign coach will give better results in future competitions.

    “ I think a foreign coach is more learned to manage the Super Eagles, but they must give him the free hand to operate like they did to Westherhof and others, I think a western coach will be better off. But then if we have a Nigerian coach that has personalities, or can go abroad to get real qualified training. “

    In a similar vein, a sport critic and promoter,  Godwin Dudu Orumen who spoke during a sport programme on metrofm said :

    “ Brand Super Eagles is bigger than any Nigerian coach, let’s go and look for a quality foreign coach, give him a four-year contract, tell him what deliverable is worth, only then we can have a branded Super Eagles, ” Orumen concluded.

  • NFF divided over new contract for Keshi

    NFF divided over new contract for Keshi

    Members of the Nigeria Football Federation are at loggerheads on whether to give out of contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, a new contract with a majority still seriously opposed to this.

    It has been reported that the leadership of the NFF wants Keshi to be given a new contract despite failing to qualify Nigeria to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in order to retain their jobs in the Glass House.

    A top source told africanFootball.com that this group believes Keshi’s “very powerful friends” will finally accept them if they give “Big Boss” a new deal.

    However, this group is opposed by a majority on the NFF executive committee who has stuck to the earlier decision to sack Keshi.

    Several top coaches including Shuaibu Amodu, Christian Chukwu and Adegboye Onigbinde had recently asked Keshi to walk away from the job because he has failed.

     

  • AFCON failure: Nigeria loses Adidas kit sponsor

    AFCON failure: Nigeria loses Adidas kit sponsor

    The woes of the Nigeria national team has gotten worse after German manufacturers, Adidas, decided not to renew its kit sponsorship deal with the Super Eagles.

    About four months back, Adidas complained that Nigeria’s coach and some players violated contractual obligations by wearing a rival’s kit at major events.

    And now the team has lost a deal worth $7m-a-year, which is likely to increase problems for the cash-strapped team.

    Nigeria’s Football Federation readily admitted finding a new sponsor will be hard if Adidas refuses to reverse the decision to terminate the deal.

    The Super Eagles had endured a difficult year, with problems both on and off the pitch damaging their reputation and results.

    As well as being penalised by FIFA for government’s interference in football matters, Nigeria will not defend its Africa Cup of Nations title at next year’s finals in Equatorial Guinea, after finishing third in a qualifying group comprising South Africa, Congo and Sudan.

    A top official of the NFF told BBC Sport that major sportswear companies are not interested in becoming the country’s new kit supplier.

    But NFF spokesman, Ademola Olajire, said the body is negotiating with other manufacturers or may still salvage a deal with Adidas.

    “We currently are in discussions with multiple parties regarding our kit situation,” Olajire told BBC Sport. “Despite receiving a notification letter from Adidas initially, we remain confident they could still reconsider their position.”

     

  • Decision to retain Keshi unacceptable – Bassey

    Decision to retain Keshi unacceptable – Bassey

    With the Nigeria Football Federation confirming that out-of-contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi will stay on as coach of the team, the Confederation of African Football media committee member, Paul Bassey has disagreed with the federation’s decision to continue with the former national team captain.

    He argued that for the Super Eagles to move on, Keshi must also move on, insisting “several things are fundamentally wrong” with the team.

    “With due respect to him, you cannot take anything away from him but a coach is as good as his last match,” sl10.ng quoted the NFF technical committee member as saying on Brila FM.

    “Coaches are hired and fired and if Nigeria dispenses with Keshi today, it’s not because he’s not a good coach.

    “It’s because a lot of things are fundamentally wrong with the team, the chemistry of the team and the quality of the players he put together and everything.

    “Football has to move on. Keshi is my old boy, Keshi is my friend but in this case, we need a change. We need a change.

    “The way we have gone on for the past five months, we need a change to have a turnaround. If you put Keshi there, we may not have the needed change and we need a change now,” Bassey added.

    The “Big Boss” is yet to officially vacate the position – despite not having a running contract – and the NFF is yet to declare the position vacant.

  • Keshi responsible for AFCON failure – Oliseh

    Keshi responsible for AFCON failure – Oliseh

    Former Super Eagles captain, Sunday Oliseh, has said Stephen Keshi should shoulder the blame for Nigeria’s failure to qualify for next year’s African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

    Oliseh, writing in his blog, faulted Keshi’s constant line-up changes and failure to settle on his best 11 players, a situation he claimed made them not to play as a team.

    ”The uncoordinated way in which Super Eagles play, which triggered our recent elimination, is borne out of the fact that there were too much line-up changes.

    “When you lack ‘raw’ quality in your team, you advocate and build success via team work, team play and a regular team to compensate for what you lack in individual quality,” Sl10.ng quoted Oliseh as saying in the blog.

    He also lashed out at Keshi’s poor handling of his critics, saying not all those who criticise the out of contract Super Eagles coach are interested in his job.

    “It is a crime to air your opinion, give advice or suggestions on how to better the Super Eagles without the handlers throwing insults at you or crying out that you seek their job,” he added.

    “They probably do this because they got the job by back stabbing; hence they fail to understand that not everyone needs or wants to coach the Super Eagles.”

    The outspoken Ex Juventus man, who is a licensed UEFA grade A coach, continued by saying Keshi and his technical crew lack the proper qualification requirements to lead a team like the Super Eagles, and that also means they were unable to achieve success in the long haul even though they won the AFCON in 2013.

    “Most of us played football as kids, we all have an opinion or idea about football. This, however, leads some to think they are experts. This is not only wrong, but dangerous,” he continued.

    “Should you want to be a top coach, you have to study and get yourself certified and even then you are not guaranteed success.

    “Spain’s Football Federation recently banned Real Madrid’s second-team coach, Zinedine Zidane, from coaching because he doesn’t have the right qualifications.

    “If they can ban such a legend from coaching the second division, why should we hand over our national teams and first division clubs to people who just attended two-week seminars and pretend to be qualified?”