The deal between the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the new Super Eagles Coach Bruno Labbadia has been aborted.
This botched deal comes days after the NFF announced on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, that it had reached an agreement with German tactician, Labbadia to become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles.
However, in a twist of events, the NFF’s Director of Communications, Ademola Olajire, in a statement said the deal between the NFF and Labbadia had been botched.
Quoting the NFF President, Musa Gusau, the federation’s spokesperson explained that stringent regulations of German tax authorities had led to the abortion of the agreement between the NFF and Coach Labbadia.
Mr Olajire said, “We have been on the tax issue for the past three days.
“I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF would agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that would be demanded by German tax authorities.
“It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32 percent to 40 percent of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage,” he said.
He further added that the NFF and Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before the previous announcement that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles was made.
Continuing, Mr Olajire said, “The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up.
“We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that,” he noted.
He added that with the latest development, the Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Augustine Eguavoen will now take charge of the Super Eagles.
Mr Eguavoen will lead the team for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic in Uyo, on September 7, 2024, and Kigali, Rwanda Kigali, on September 10, 2024.
This new role would be Eguavoen’s fourth stint in charge of the three-time African champions, after earlier experience in 2005 to 2007, 2010 and 2022.
