Nigeria renews Gernot Rohr contract as Super Eagles coach

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Wednesday announced that it has concluded all contractual agreements with Gernot Rohr to remain the coach of the country’s national team.

“I’m happy to announce that the NFF and Coach Gernot Rohr have concluded all contractual discussions and he will stay on as Coach of the Super Eagles,” NFF president Amaju Pinnick said in a statement.

“We have always had confidence in his abilities and we are confident that the national team can only go higher from here.”

The German coach was first appointed Super Eagles coach in August 2016 in a three years contract after Sunday Oliseh was sacked by the NFF.

He won his first game in charge of the Nigerian national team with a 1 – 0 win over Tanzania in Uyo, Akwa Ibo State Nigeria.

On 7 October 2017, he led Nigeria to become the first African side to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup after a 1–0 win against Zambia. On 17 July 2019, Rohr led Nigeria to a third-place finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

Since the country’s exit from the 2019 AFCON tournament in Egypt, talks about his contract renewal had hit the woodwork in separate times.

Rohr’s major criticism by many Nigerians was his alleged attitude to local players from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NFPL).

His critics argued that there should be a mandatory clause to play local players in his new contract if renewed. It is, however, unknown if such condition was in the renewed contract.

Despite the many reasons stated by Rohr’s critics, Pinnick said he “never lost confidence in Gernot Rohr’s ability to take our football forward and I’m convinced our football will only get better from here on.”

Pinnick disclosed that qualification for the next World Cup in Qatar and winning the next AFCON competition are the conditions given to the Super Eagle coach.

“In truth, these are sacrosanct and Coach Rohr is aware of these conditions. Like the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development has rightly noted; we are uncompromising in these goals,” Pinnick said.

“With the distraction of the contract talks out of the way now, we can now face our football on the pitch, totally.”