Gernot Rohr sacked as Super Eagles manager

Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr has been relieved of his duties after five years in charge of Nigeria’s senior football team, according to reports from respected photojournalist Tobi Adepoju.

The decision to part ways with Gernot Rohr was reached by the Executive Committee of the NFF in the aftermath of the side’s 1-1 draw at home to Cape Verde in a match that saw them qualify for the FIFA World Cup Playoffs.

Despite Gernot Rohr meeting the targets set by the NFF, Nigerian football’s governing body was still disappointed in his work as Super Eagles Head Coach due to the way the Eagles struggled in games.

The beginning of the end for Gernot Rohr came in 2020 when the Super Eagles relinquished a first half 4-0 lead against Sierra Leone to draw 4-4 at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin City in a 2021 African Cup of Nations Qualifier, before playing a goalless draw in Freetown days later.

Gernot Rohr is the longest-serving Super Eagles coach ever, having been appointed on August 9th 2016. He also coached the highest number of Super Eagles games by any coach, as he was in charge for 57 games. His record stands at 30 wins, 13 draws and 14 losses with a 52.6% win ratio.

Rohr led the Super Eagles to a third-place finish at the 2019 AFCON after the Super Eagles missed two consecutive editions of the competition. He also led the Super Eagles to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, where they were eliminated in the group stage following defeats to Croatia and Argentina.

Gernot Rohr, who is contacted to the Nigerian Football Federation until December 2022, will see the rest of his contract paid off by the Nigeria Football Federation in instalments. The Franco-German manager was said to have called his senior players by phone and said his farewells shortly after the Cape Verde match.

A chief bone of contention from Nigerian stakeholders and football fans is the fact that Super Eagles stars struggled badly whenever they played for the national side, a far cry from the performance they delivered for their clubs in Europe.

The Eagles have laboured through the group stage of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in a group that contained Cape Verde, Liberia, and Central African Republic. The NFF has decided that Gernot Rohr is not the man to lead the team to the AFCON in January, or the playoffs in March.

47-year-old former Serbia manager Mladen Krstajic is said to be the frontrunner to take over from Gernot Rohr. The Serbian manager led his country to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, where they got knocked out in the group stage. A final decision will be reached in the coming days/weeks about who replaces Rohr.