The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in the early hours of Tuesday, August 27, ended their long search for the next Super Eagles head coach following the appointment of German tactician Bruno Labbadia as Finidi George's successor.

In a statement, the General Secretary of the NFF, Mohammed Sanusi, announced the former Bayern Munich striker as the new head coach of the three-time African champions.

“The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to appoint Mr. Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The appointment is with immediate effect,” Sanusi said.

Labbadia has coached popular Bundesliga clubs like Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen, Hertha Berlin and VfB Stuttgart.

Unlike the other Super Eagles stars, Napoli striker Victor Osimhen is not new to the idea of working with the German as they had a short spell together at Wolfsburg.

Young Osimhen, who joined the Bundesliga outfit on the back of a successful U-17 World Cup tournament in Chile in 2015 played about three games under German at Wolfsburg, before the 58-year-old was sacked and replaced by current Crystal Palace manager, Oliver Glasner.

While speaking on his time with the reigning African Footballer of the Year prior to his big move to Napoli from Lille, Labbadia described Osimhen as a strong and formidable striker who give his best on the pitch.

“When he [Victor Osimhen] has the ball on his feet, he is formidable and in one on one he is very strong,” Labbadia was quoted saying in Il Mattino as reported by TuttoMercato,

“He is very good in running without the ball to be found free by his companions.

“He knows how to descend in every reality, he always gives 200 percent. He makes a great central striker because he is the classic number 9,” the German tactician added.

The 58-year-old is the sixth German to lead the Super Eagles after Karl-Heinz Marotzke, Gottlieb Göller, Manfred Höner , Berti Vogts and Gernot Rohr.

His first challenge is to lead the 2023 AFCON finalists in the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic and Rwanda.