Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) technical director Augustine Eguavoen has said home-based players will get more opportunities under the new Super Eagles technical crew.
Finidi George was unveiled as the new head coach of the Super Eagles at an elaborate ceremony in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Monday.
The 53-year-old was in charge of Nigeria Premier Football League champions Enyimba before his appointment
The former Ajax and Real Betis winger also previously worked as an assistant to former head coach Jose Peseiro.
Read Also:2026 WCQ: Finidi Must Get The Best From Super Eagles Players –Ikpeba
There has been persistent complaints over the neglect of home-based players in the Super Eagles in the past.
Only one local player, Ojo Olorunleke was included in the squad to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote.
Eguavoen has however assured the local players will be a part of the team on a regular basis in the new dispensation.
“There is a percentage of players from the domestic league who will always be part of the Super Eagles,” Eguavoen said at the unveiling ceremony of the new Super Eagles coach.
Four local players will reportedly be named in Super Eagles’ squad for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against South Africa and Benin Republic.
13 Comments
“There has been persistent complaints over the neglect of home-based players in the Super Eagles in the past.”
From who?
Hahahaha…Fantastic question Deo.
From who…?
Mr Egauvoen led the SE to 2022 AFCON….I can’t remember him listing any outfield home-based player in his final squad. He only listed a John Noble whom he never gave a second of playing time.
Fast forward to the 2022 WC qualifiers…I still can’t remember him listing any outfield homebased player….!
He as the technical director of the NFF never deemed them good enough…but has suddenly woken up now that the mantle is in another man’s hands.
So please, what has changed about his perception of the ability of the home-based lads now, that they must have a guaranteed percentage in SE squads….?
The dog that will get lost will never hear the cries of the hunter’s whistle.
2022, Dr Drey?
In 2006 – 18 years ago when the local league was way better than this – when Eyimba FC were punching their weight on the continent, coach Eguavoen only deemed it fit to include 1 homebased player in the Super Eagles squad to the Africa Cup of Nations and guess what, it was the third choice goalkeeper Dele Aiyenugba!
Fast forward 2022 and he repeated the same formula. So what is he talking about?
Hahahaha…Don’t mind these bunch of jesters.
Our people say “were dun wo, ko see bi l’omo”…..A mad man always makes a good spectacle to watch, but not one to have as a child….LMAOoo
CAF was not stupid when it created the CHAN in 2009 strictly for players based in the home leagues, not even including players based in other African leagues. Since that 2009 we have only managed to qualify 3 times…just 3 times and the last time we qualified was 6 years ago….LMAOoo.
That doesn’t mean that we can’t find good home based players, but the problem is that they will select the bad home based players
I dare Finidi to start all 4 homebased players they will invite in our next match vs South Africa. I dare him to do so. That is when I will believe they are truly confident in the abailites of their homebased babies.
No time everybody plays in a match but I think they are form the folcrum of the team. The challenge is that some of you have no clear understanding of the issues. Besides, before Clem Westerhof the campaign for local inclusion wasn’t this fierce.
Correction: I think they will form the folcrum bla bla bla
@deo from the masses back home that gather in Beer Parlours to Watch Arsenal,Man City, Liverpool, Man u, Barca and Real. zero to No Internet bandwith have and generally have no interest in Super eagles just that Nigeria is playing. this are the same heads that call for Musa no matter his drop in form. Was it not one fan on Social media thinking Moses Simon and Victor Moses is the same person. You day Win?. Most Nigerians dont even know where half of our top players play. these are the same fans that delude themselves to thinking because Finidi says NPFL players are good so they are good. Like I said sometime ago Nigeria is Nigeria’s main problem the People on ground are as confused as the Ones running it. Sad reality but true!. I know they will attack me for saying the truth however I will
You know the sad thing is that most NFF and Ex Internationals know that the masses actually do not know about our European based stars and they use that to thier advantage when Making Eyebrow raising shoddy calls.
Hahahaha…Fantastic question Deo.
From who…?
Mr Egauvoen led the SE to 2022 AFCON….I can’t remember him listing any outfield home-based player in his final squad. He only listed a John Noble whom he never gave a second of playing time.
Fast forward to the 2022 WC qualifiers…I still can’t remember him listing any outfield homebased player….!
He as the technical director of the NFF never deemed them good enough…but has suddenly woken up now that the mantle is in another man’s hands.
So please, what has changed about his perception of the ability of the home-based lads now, that they must have a guaranteed percentage in SE squads….?
The dog that will get lost will never hear the cries of the hunter’s whistle.
I dare Finidi to start all 4 homebased players they will invite in our next match vs South Africa. I dare him to do so. That is when I will believe they are truly confident in the abailites of their homebased babies.
Putting the record straight and also being fair to the NFF technical director, he has been a vanguard of sort or should I even say an umbrella to the local league which comprises of players and their management bodies; remember Noble, Ndah, and even Taminu was said to have been suggested by Eguaveon though that’s yet to be ascertained. But it’s clear the direction Eguavoen has prepared the team. Direction as to where Coach George should go. That’s the truth.
However, my take is that the technical department should ensure that football activities begin at tertiary levels, that is to say, in Primary and secondary schools. It will be such that a feedback mechanism is timely emplaced and minitored, – technology can be utilized for this purpose. Talents being tapped in the process and these are to be exposed to d local league. A similar structure should also be in place in the local communities like we used to organize street tournaments, community to community competition with sponsorship coming from the NFF. Those of us who are ardent fans of the super Eagles can be identified, given some responsibility to organize and run grassroots matches of sort as this would assist in feeding the local league which I’m aware is necessary for us. In fact, Eguavoen as the NFF T.D. must ensure that all down the chain carry out their responsilities, it’s one of his responsibility though a very vital role. There’s need to make the local league vibrant and the owners should exercise certain autonomous control while the ministry plays its part. A robbust conversation should be about good advise/suggestion going forward.By and large the conversation on the thread has been quite excellent since the fans are freely expressing themselves though at times stereotypical.
Naija don buy market. These people probably think that the problem of the Super Eagles is lack of home based players. They sha wan develop the league using local players. It’s so funny. This is not 80s or 90s that we could literally raise 2 quality home based teams from our local league because then, only few of them went out to play in big European leagues. This just eye service. I’ll see what they’ll achieve with this.
These bunch of broke fools will bring shame and humiliation to that country. The goal is to frustrate certain players, from particular region out of the team. They need these gra gra leg breakers from local league to make money. To these guys super eagles is all about business and sentiment. My Bet stlll stands.