Nigerian football: Public poll to decide head coach's future

"It is a shameful situation," was all Jose Peseiro would offer when DW asked about his continued role as head coach of the Nigerian men's national team.

Last week, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) took the unprecedented step of announcing a public poll to decide on Peseiro's future with the Super Eagles, leaving the Portuguese head coach incredulous.

Peseiro secured Nigeria's qualification for next year's Africa Cup of Nations earlier this month, when he guided them to a 2-1 win over Sierra Leone.

But he had little time to fully enjoy the victory before being hit with the news that NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau had declared on the Gbamm! Loving Football radio show Peseiro's future was subject to the results of a public poll.

"We have a plan to put it to Nigerians and to hear their views," announced Gusau. "We tried foreign coaches and also home-based coaches, and it seems all were having some kind of problems.

"Maybe we haven't got it right in the area of getting the right person. But we are surely going to put it to the public whether to continue with Peseiro or let him go."

The situation has left Nigerian football in limbo ahead of an important period.

Abdicating responsibility

The NFF hired 63-year-old Peseiro in May 2022 to replace interim manager Austin Eguavoen after they failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar.

Despite coaching domestic clubs in Portugal, Greece, Romania and Egypt, where Peseiro won the league with Al Ahly, subsequent national team jobs in Saudi Arabia and Venezuela came with little success.

Given the talent at his disposal in Nigeria, he always believed he could finally make a big statement on the international stage.

He was recommended to the NFF by an agent after they sacked German Gernot Rohr in November 2021. Peseiro's credentials and experience impressed former NFF president Amaju Pinnick. His job was solidified when he got Pinnick to speak with childhood friend Jose Mourinho who gave him a glowing recommendation. 

"The goal for me is to win the next AFCON," Peseiro told DW last year in Doha during the World Cup. Now that he has secured qualification, that dream might be taken away from him after the NFF's decision to put his job to a public vote.

Football writer Osasu Obayiuwana, the journalist who first broke the news via Twitter, thinks it's a laughable idea and believes that the decision of the NFF is an abdication of its responsibilities.

"Does it show that the people who are responsible for making the decision are serious and responsible?" Obayiuwana asked, speaking to DW.

According to Obayiuwana, the entire NFF board is not in support of the decision, as some members clearly think Gusau's announcement makes a joke of their work. The federation's technical department normally makes decisions about the signing of coaches and is supposed to table its recommendations for the board to take a final decision.

Former Nigeria international Bolaji Douglas called it "a strange decision." 

"I would also like to believe that there are goals and targets given to him to meet, now I am not sure if meeting public opinion poll is on that list. Maybe it was," Douglas said sarcastically.

Peseiro's record in charge of the team has been mixed. He has won four and lost seven matches since he took charge. But only one of the losses came in a competitive match against Guinea-Bissau in March. He has also tried to make the most of a difficult situation where he has been consistently owed salaries, reportedly for as long as six months.

"I respect the NFF," Peseiro said, refusing to make his salary arrears or contract quagmire a media issue.

Clock ticking

Peseiro's contract is running out with a federation that is playing hide and seek.

Nigeria will begin their qualifying campaign for the 2026 World Cup in November. They must avoid messing up the qualifiers with a coaching crisis as they did with the sacking of Rohr a month before their failed AFCON 2021 campaign, which dove-tailed to them failing to beat Ghana to qualify for Qatar.

Abayomi Ogunjimi, president of the Authentic Nigeria Football and Allied Sports Supporters' Club, believes that the NFF's decision could be about carrying along the stakeholders.

However, "the final decision lies with the technical department of the NFF," Ogunjimi said. He expects a "rowdy" free-for-all if it's left to public opinion.

But the clock is ticking. Two weeks after the declaration of Gusau, there has yet to be a roadmap for the public poll. The federation's communications department did not respond to DW's request for comment.

"It is those who are saddled with the administration of our football who need to make the decisions that will bring about improvements, not public opinion," Bolaji Douglas concluded.

Peseiro, meanwhile, is trying to relax, enjoy the summer and take his mind off the situation. He was recently in Orlando, Florida, where he attended a charity match held by Brazilian stars Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos, and is now back in his native Portugal with his family.

Whatever happens, his fate is not in his hands.

Edited by Matt Ford