The President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau, has confirmed that the newly appointed Super Eagles head coach, Eric Chelle, will oversee the Home-Based Super Eagles during the 2025 African Nations Championship (CHAN)., Nigeriasoccernet.com can report.
Gusau explained that the decision to have Chelle manage the CHAN Eagles is part of a broader strategy to identify quality players from the domestic league for possible integration into the senior national team.
"We (NFF) came up with a policy that whoever emerges as Super Eagles Coach will manage the Home-Based Eagles," Gusau stated during an interview with NFF TV.
He emphasized the importance of utilizing the CHAN tournament to discover and nurture local talent: "You cannot be allowed to manage a team comprising home-based players and tell us you can't get one or two players that can be injected into the senior national team. We saw what happened in the last match we played against Ghana to qualify for the CHAN finals. A lot of people believe there is hope for Nigerian football because we saw the Nigerian spirit, especially in the last matches in Ghana and Uyo."
The NFF officially announced Chelle's appointment on Tuesday, highlighting that his tenure will commence with his involvement in the CHAN tournament. The competition will serve as a platform for Chelle to evaluate the capabilities of homegrown talent and possibly incorporate them into the main Super Eagles squad.
The competition is set to kick off on February 1, 2025.
This move underscores the NFF’s commitment to fostering a stronger connection between the domestic league and the national team while ensuring seamless talent integration across both levels.
Oluwayemi Omolagba