EAGLES: 'WHY DON'T WE LOOK INWARDS' - AGHAHOWA URGES NFF TO HIRE HOME-BASED COACH

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Former Nigerian striker, Julius Aghahowa has expressed his views on the current state of the Super Eagles, who have been without a coach.

The three-time African champions have been without a head coach since Finidi George’s resignation, after managing just two World Cup qualifiers.

In the buildup to appointing a new coach, there has been speculation about hiring a foreign coach, with names like former France women’s team coach Hervé Renard and Mali national team coach Éric Chelle being mentioned.

Speaking on Brila FM’s “No-Holds-Barred” with Ifeanyi Udeze, the former Shakhtar Donetsk striker questioned the rationale behind hiring a foreign coach when the administration struggled to meet the financial demands.

“The coach (Herve Renard) is a very good coach, he has experience; when it comes to African football and even world football, we have to be realistic. Can we afford him with the price tag?”

“Even when the former coach was handling the team and he was earning about $50,000 to 70,000, it was difficult for us to pay him. We were owing him for months, and now we are talking about almost double of that amount, where are we going to get the money from?,” Aghahowa asked.

Capped 32 times for the Super Eagles, with 14 goals to his name, Aghahowa proposed that the team’s administration should look inward and focus on homegrown talent; players and coaches.

“Why don’t we look inward and build a team for the future, forget about the short-term results? I have always advocated for the inclusion of home-based players in the national team. Because when you are coming up as a Nigerian player you play there, you know the suffering and the hardship, so you have that dedication more than any player that is coming from outside and dedication to serve the country.”

Aghahowa also emphasized the importance of giving local coaches the opportunity to lead the team stating, “Also when it comes to coaches as well, I advocate for our homegrown coaches to be given the opportunity to coach this team on a long term.”

He added, “The way we think is the reason we get the results we do. If we want to give this to our homegrown coach we have our colleagues that have been into coaching for some time, we know them, give them this job and pay them well.

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“We might not pay them as much as the white coaches but pay them well, give them enough time to build the team and I have confidence in the homegrown coaches.”

Super Eagles are set to take on the Benin Republic, on September 7, at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in their opening AFCON 2025 qualifiers match.