The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) today announced the appointment of ex international winger Finidi George as the coach of the national team.
Many Nigerian fans are understandably tired of standard issue journeymen foreign coaches, usually the type that no one deems suitable for top jobs in their home countries and usually end up working in Africa, with minimal impact in terms of tangible success.
Findi, apart from being a world class wide man on the right side (considered one of the best at the time) for Nigeria in their glory years of the mid-1990s, had one of the best footballing education any player could wish for. After playing for Calabar Rovers and Iwuanyanwu in Nigeria, he moved to Ajax in 1993, appearing for them 86 times and scoring 18 goals in three years, picking up a Champions League trophy and three league titles along the way.
He played under a coaching great, Louis Van Gaal at Ajax and the club, from the academy to the first team, built a reputation for “Total Football” from 1960s-70s under the guidance of Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff and others, which involved producing players with the tactical understanding to play in a variety of positions and a deep appreciation of the nuances of the game.
In 1996 he moved from Amsterdam to Betis in Spain where he spent four years and impressed them enough with his footballing knowledge to be appointed director of international football on retirement, following stints at Mallorca and Ipswich Town.
Finidi has the highest coaching qualification in Europe – the Uefa Pro Licence and led Enyimba to the Nigerian league title in 2023. He was also one of the assistants to the Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro as Nigeria reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in February.
Finidi was very cerebral as a player and his glittering playing career in Europe and as a Nigeria international means he learned from some of the very best. Can he turn the excellent footballing education to national team coaching success? While he is far from the finished article as a coach, the ingredients are there. The only things that would stop him from taking Nigeria where they demand to be as a birthright are the inept administrators he has to contend with at the NFF and himself – if he puts short-term gain of not picking players on merit above greater glory for Nigeria. He also needs to be very aware that the game is constantly evolving. So without continuous personal development and lifelong learning, his chances of success are pretty much remote.
