On Wednesday, 29th December 2021, the Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) officially announced Jose Peseiro as the new head coach of the Super Eagles.

The announcement was made by the Executive Committee during their meeting held via video conference.

The committee stated that Peseiro will be in Cameroon for the Africa Cup of Nations as an observer while Austine Eguavoen will be in charge of the team.

Born in Coruche, Portugal, Peseiro had his first stint as a coach in 1992 when he took charge of Uniao Santarem in his homeland.

Between 1994 and 2003 the 61-year-old managed Uniao Montemor, Oriental and Nacional.

In 2003 Peseiro became assistant to current Egyptian coach Carlos Queiroz at Real Madrid and after spending just one season (2003/2004) the pair were relieved of their positions.

After his disappointing time at Madrid, Peseiro returned to Portugal to take charge of Sporting Lisbon, whom he led to the final of the Europa League final (known then as UEFA Cup) in 2005. Unfortunately Sporting Lisbon lost 3-1 to CSKA Moscow.

Following spells with Panathinaikos, Rapid Bucuresti and Sporting Braga (where he won the Portuguese League Cup in 2013) Peseiro came to Africa and joined Egyptian giants Al Ahly in 2015. He won the league title despite spending only one season (2015/2016).

Peseiro’s first job at national team level was with Saudi Arabia in 2009 during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Saudi Arabia failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and on 10 January 2011, he was sacked after losing the first game in the Asian Cup.

His last national team job was with Venezuela after taking over on February 2020 and led them to the 2021 Copa America where crashed out in the group stage.

On August 2021, he resigned having not been paid for over a year amidst Venezuela’s economic crisis.

By James Agberebi