Okpala Criticises Pinnick Over Support for Eric Chelle as Super Eagles Coach
Former Super Eagles midfielder Sylvanus Okpala has criticised ex-Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president Amaju Pinnick for backing Eric Chelle to continue as head coach of the national team.
Okpala believes that a Nigerian coach remains the best option for the Super Eagles, despite growing public support for Chelle following recent performances.
The former international said he never supported the appointment of the Malian coach when he was named head coach in January 2025. While he admitted that results under Chelle have been encouraging, Okpala argued that good performances should not distract from what he sees as the wrong approach to managing the national team.
Chelle has now spent a year in charge and is yet to lose a competitive match in regulation time with the Super Eagles. However, he failed to lead Nigeria to qualification for the FIFA World Cup.
At the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, Nigeria finished third and impressed many observers with their attacking style. The Super Eagles scored 14 goals, the highest at the tournament, and were praised as one of the most exciting teams.
Those displays led Pinnick to publicly suggest that Chelle should be allowed to continue in the role. He also said that any Nigerian coach interested in the Super Eagles job should first prove himself by winning league titles and continental trophies with a Nigeria Professional Football League club.
Okpala strongly disagrees with that view.
Speaking in an interview, he said Nigerian coaches are consistently overlooked using arguments he described as unfair and inconsistent.
“All I can say is that Nigerian coaches will solve the Super Eagles problem. I’ve been saying this for about five years,” Okpala said.
“I read someone saying that if you want to coach the national team, you must have taken a club to the continent and won the CAF Champions League.
“If that is the condition, then Eric Chelle is from Mali. How many clubs did he coach in Mali that won the CAF Champions League?” he asked.
Okpala’s comments come despite Chelle guiding Nigeria to a third-place finish at AFCON 2025, a campaign that has divided opinion among fans and former players.
Okpala is a respected figure in Nigerian football. He was part of the Super Eagles team that won Nigeria’s first AFCON title in 1980 and also represented the country at the 1980 and 1988 Olympic Games. As a coach, he worked as an assistant to the late Stephen Keshi and was part of the technical crew that led Nigeria to AFCON success in 2013.
He believes his experience, and that of other local coaches, shows that Nigeria already has the quality needed to handle the Super Eagles job.
