Nigeria’s senior men national team, Super Eagles, is close to running on auto-pilot and will definitely achieve a lot of success under the present technical crew headed by Franco-Malian tactician Éric Chelle, says President of Nigeria Football Federation, Ibrahim Musa Gusau.
Gusau, also President of the sub-regional bloc WAFU B, opined that with what the Super Eagles have shown at the 35th Africa Cup of Nations, in which they finished in third place, the three-time African champions have turned the corner from the huge disappointment of consecutive FIFA World Cup misses, and now set to rise to new heights.
“Actually, when we landed in Morocco towards the end of last year, our objective was to win the AFCON trophy and be the champions of Africa. Today, we finished in third place and won the bronze medals instead. We missed our target but my joy is in the way our team played. They have played with zest and patriotic fervour, and showed resilience and character.
“Big kudos to the huge support and motivation that we continue to receive from the Federal Government, through the National Sports Commission. Without the support of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR and the Government as a whole, we would not have been able to do anything.
“The NFF is proud of the team’s campaign and will continue to do its best to encourage, support and motivate the team as we go forward. As the head of a hard-working technical crew, Mr. Chelle has done exceedingly well within the one year he has been with us. He has shown enormous capacity and we will continue to work with him.”
The NFF supremo’s evaluation of the 48-year-old strategist comes against the backdrop of a groundswell of support for Nigeria to continue with the manager that she signed on in January last year, in the middle of a tottering FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign.
In the one year that followed, the man has led Nigeria’s ‘A’ team in 18 competitive matches, losing none. From a no-hope situation, he steered the Eagles to stand a chance of qualification for the World Cup on the final day of the qualifying series, and ultimately got a Playoff ticket. Progress was halted via a penalty shootout, which also botched a Final appearance at the AFCON, but it was also the same route the team took in clinching a 9th AFCON bronze medal at the Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca on Saturday.
“If you coach Nigeria, you must win everything,” a pragmatic Chelle told CAFonline two months ago. That realization and imbibed etho has continued to guide his work, in which he has won 11 of 17 competitive matches and drawn six in regulation time.
In Morocco, Chelle guided Nigeria to its highest-ever tally of 14 goals in a single AFCON, with the team unbeaten in regulation time in any of its seven matches, and showing class and character in games against fellow continental powerhouses Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Egypt. Tanzania and Uganda, who will joint-host next year’s AFCON finals alongside Kenya, also got spanked by the Super Eagles.
In winning their first AFCON title on home soil in 1980, the Eagles scored a total of 8 goals against Tanzania, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria. In 1994 in Tunisia, they scored a total of 9 goals. When winning in South Africa in 2013, the Super Eagles netted 11 times.
“The journey to the next AFCON starts immediately (in March). We do not have the luxury of time to continue dwelling on what we have done here. We must set to work immediately. For now, we are excited about the squad that we have. Remember also that a couple of very good players missed the tournament as a result of injury. The bottomline is that the future looks very bright,” Gusau added.
Victory on Saturday meant Nigeria has now mounted the podium in 17 of its 21 appearances at the AFCON. The only times she has failed to medal were in 1963, 1982, 2008 and 2021.
ÉRIC SÉKOU CHELLE’S SUPER EAGLES DIARY
21 Mar 2025: Rwanda 0-2 Nigeria (FIFA World Cup Q: Kigali)
25 Mar 2025: Nigeria 1-1 Zimbabwe (FIFA World Cup Q: Uyo)
28 May 2025: Nigeria 2-1 Ghana (Unity Cup: London)
31 May 2025: Jamaica 2-2 Nigeria (Unity Cup: London)
. Nigeria win 5-4 on penalties to retain the trophy
06 Jun 2025: Russia 1-1 Nigeria (Friendly: Moscow)
06 Sep 2025: Nigeria 1-0 Rwanda (FIFA World Cup Q: Uyo)
09 Sep 2025: South Africa 1-1 Nigeria (FIFA World Cup Q: Bloemfontein)
10 Oct 2025: Lesotho 1-2 Nigeria (FIFA World Cup Q: Polokwane)
14 Oct 2025: Nigeria 4-0 Bénin Republic (FIFA World Cup Q: Uyo)
13 Nov 2025: Gabon 1-4 Nigeria (FIFA World Cup Playoff: Rabat)
16 Nov 2025: DR Congo 1-1 Nigeria (FIFA World Cup Playoff: Rabat)
. DR Congo win 4-3 on penalties
16 Dec 2025: Egypt 2-1 Nigeria (Friendly: Cairo)
23 Dec 2025: Nigeria 2-1 Tanzania (AFCON: Fès, Morocco)
27 Dec 2025: Nigeria 3-2 Tunisia (AFCON: Fès, Morocco)
30 Dec 2025: Uganda 1-3 Nigeria (AFCON: Fès, Morocco)
05 Jan 2026: Nigeria 4-0 Mozambique (AFCON: Fès, Morocco)
10 Jan 2026: Algeria 0-2 Nigeria (AFCON: Marrakech, Morocco)
14 Jan 2026: Nigeria 0-0 Morocco (AFCON semi: Rabat, Morocco)
. Morocco win 4-2 on penalties
17 Jan 2026: Egypt 0-0 Nigeria (AFCON third place: Casablanca, Morocco)
. Nigeria win 4-2 on penalties
