Femi Solaja
Former Nigerian international, Kingsley Onye, has thrown his weight behind Emmanuel Amuneke to emerge as the new Super Eagles head coach.
Onye, fondly called ‘Mature’ in his days with Enugu Rangers, was one of the star players for Flying Eagles at the Under-20 World Cup in Moscow in 1985.
Speaking with THISDAY last night on telephone, Onye stressed that Amuneke have all the requisite qualifications to lead the senior Nigerian team.
“Amuneke is the right man for the job of the head coach of the Super Eagles because he has been there before,” began Onye.
He stressed that “Amuneke started out with the Nigeria youth team, the Golden Eaglets by assisting Manu Garba to win the U-17 World Cup in 2013 and as head coach, led the same Golden Eaglets to win the cup again in 2015.
“As a senior team coach, he qualified a long-standing absentee team, Tanzania for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. His record as a player is also very impressive with AFCON 1994 and Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and was also the first Nigerian to score two goals at the World Cup,” Onye pointed out in the telephone chat.
He also pointed at Amuneke’s rich CV to include playing at the African Games and for top clubs in the continent as he was a member of the Egyptian giants, Zamalek.
“In Europe, he played for Sporting Clube de Portugal and then Barcelona before an injury ended his career.
“He can get the players to be in fraternity the way he speaks with them. You also know that most players in Nigeria have ego problems. But not with Amuneke because he has seen it all at top club like Barcelona and also, can
communicate with the players to act the way he desires.
“Those pushing for the appointment of a foreign manager instead of an indigenous coach should consider that the Nigerian economy of the Nigeria Football Federation can not sustain the hiring of a foreigner. We cannot afford to spend our scarce foreign exchange paying for a coach who will most of the time stay abroad while his bill is running here and then only saunter in when there is a match,” Onye pointed out.
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has admitted that a substantive head coach will be announced for Super Eagles in the next few days ahead of Match-day three and four of the ongoing 2026 World Cup qualifying games.
