The new foreign coach could still lead the Super Eagles to next month’s AFCON, according to NFF president Amaju Pinnick.
Austin Eguavoen has been appointed in temporary capacity to head the Eagles following the dismissal of Gernot Rohr.
Pinnick has now said it was still possible to fast track the appointment of a foreign coach for the country so that he could take full charge of the team at the AFCON and not merely be there as an observer.
“We are taking to three top coaches who can take our football to the next level. One of them gave me a good evaluation of our players in pure scientific way only on Tuesday,” Pinnick told media.
“The ministry of sports is working with us on this as our supervising ministry. We spoke to some top coaches on this including Jose Mourinho. The minister also spoke with the coaches and also Mourinho.
“We have confidence in the ability of Eguavoen and co, but if we have a new coach early enough, he will take charge and lead Eagles to AFCON. No sentiments about it, we want the best and won’t experiment with the team.”
Mourinho’s previous assistants, Jose Morais and Jose Peresiro, are top on the list of coaches the NFF are discussing with.
The NFF technical committee, according to Pinnick, will recommend the best to the executive committee shortly and so a new Eagles coach could be appointed soon after.
The delayed 2021 AFCON kicks off in Cameroon on January 9, 2022.
