NFF General Secretary, Dr.

Mohammed Sanusi, announced early Tuesday that the NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to appoint Mr.

Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles, effective immediately.

Born in Darmstadt, Germany on February 8, 1966, Labbadia earned two caps for the German national team, Die Mannschaft, during his playing career.

He played for several clubs, including his hometown team Darmstadt 98, Hamburger SV, FC Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, FC Cologne, Werder Bremen, Armenia Bielefeld, and Karlsruher SC.

He won the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich as a player in 1994.

Labbadia has coached well-known teams such as Hertha Berlin and VfB Stuttgart in this decade, and previously VfL Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen, among others.

He holds a UEFA Pro License.

Labbadia is the sixth German to lead the Super Eagles, following 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).

Höner led the Eagles to a runner-up position at the 1988 Africa Cup of Nations, while Rohr qualified and led Nigeria to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia.

Labbadia's immediate challenge is to take charge of the three-time African champions for two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Saturday, September 7th in Uyo) and Rwanda (Tuesday, September 10th in Kigali), with four other matches to conclude the qualifying race following in the months of October and November.