Interim coach, Eguavoen, to lead Nigeria to Cameroun 2022
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), yesterday, ended the speculations on who becomes Super Eagles head coach when it named Portugal’s Jose Peseiro as the senior national team’s new manager. But the Federation announced that its technical director, Austin Eguavoen, who is currently Super Eagles interim coach, will lead the team to the Cameroun 2022 African Cup of Nations, with Peseiro joining the team to Cameroun as an observer.
In a communiqué issued after its executive committee meeting, yesterday, the NFF also announced that Austin Eguavoen, who was previously appointed as interim coach of the Super Eagles, will now revert to his role as the Federation’s technical director.
The NFF communiqué reads: “After careful consideration of a memo presented by chairman of the technical and development sub-committee, the executive committee endorsed a proposal for the appointment of Mr. Jose Peseiro as the new head coach of the Super Eagles, following the end to the relationship with Mr Gernot Rohr.
“However, the committee resolved that Mr. Augustine Eguavoen, named the interim head coach, will lead the Super Eagles to the AFCON 2021 in Cameroun with Mr. Peseiro only playing the role of observer.
“It was unanimously agreed that the AFCON is a good avenue for Mr. Peseiro to launch a working relationship with Mr. Eguavoen, who will revert to his role as technical director (hence Mr. Peseiro’s immediate boss) after the AFCON.”
To test the preparedness of the Super Eagles for the African Cup of Nations, which kicks off on January 9, 2022, the NFF mandated its technical and development committee to liaise with the NFF secretariat to organise a friendly match for the team in Garoua.
It also tasked the committee with arranging matches for the Super Eagles and the Super Falcons in upcoming FIFA windows for international friendlies.
The new Eagles coach, whose full name is José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro, was born on born April 4, 1960. After an unassuming career as a player, he went on to coach several clubs in his country, including Sporting CP, which he took to the 2005 UEFA Cup Final, and Porto. He also worked extensively in Arab nations, being in charge of the Saudi Arabian national team.
Peseiro never played in higher than the Segunda Liga as a professional, starting out at Sport Lisboa e Cartaxo in 1979. In that competition, he represented Amora FC, Clube Oriental de Lisboa, GD Samora Correia and S.C.U. Torreense, for a total of five seasons.
Peseiro retired at the end of the 1993–94 season in the fourth division, with local club União de Santarém. He spent his first eight years as a manager in the third and fourth tiers of Portuguese football, starting out as a player-coach at his last team before he took over C.D. Nacional in 1999 and helped the team to gain promotion to the Primeira Liga in just three seasons. In 2002–03, he led the team to a final 11th position.
Peseiro assisted Carlos Queiroz at Real Madrid in 2003-2004 season, before moving to coach in the UAE in 2017 with Sharjah FC.
His last job was as head coach of Venezuela, which he led to the 2021 Copa America. But he resigned in August, having not been paid for over a year amid the South American country’s economic crisis.
