Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Ibrahim Gusau has thrown his weight behind Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle, insisting the Franco-Malian tactician will continue in charge following Nigeria’s third-place finish at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco, The PUNCH reports.
Speaking after the tournament, Gusau said the national team had shown clear signs of progress under Chelle, adding that the federation remained committed to working with the coach as Nigeria seeks to build on the performance.
‘The team is close to running on autopilot and will definitely achieve a lot of success under the present technical crew’, Gusau said via NFF, reflecting on Nigeria’s campaign.
‘The NFF is proud of the team’s performance and will continue to do its best to encourage, support and motivate the team as we go forward.
‘As the head of a hard-working technical crew, Mr Chelle has done exceedingly well within the one year he has been with us. He has shown enormous capacity, and we will continue to work with him’.
Nigeria finished third at the tournament after defeating Egypt 4-2 on penalties in the bronze medal match, following a goalless draw in regulation time at the Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca on Saturday.
It marked the country’s ninth third-place finish at the Africa Cup of Nations and their 17th podium finish in 21 appearances at the tournament, with the only medal-less campaigns coming in 1963, 1982, 2008 and 2021.
Off the pitch in Morocco while the AFCON was going on, attention was on Chelle’s future amid reports linking him with several national teams, including Tunisia, Angola, Guinea and his former employers, Mali.
The reports suggested Tunisian football authorities are prepared to make a substantial financial offer following the dismissal of their coach, Sami Trabelsi, with a salary of around $100,000 per month being discussed.
Chelle, who was appointed by the NFF in January 2025 on a two-year contract, has now completed his first year in charge. During that period, he has overseen 15 competitive matches with the Super Eagles, winning 10 and drawing five.
He addressed the speculation during the tournament, insisting his focus remained on the job at hand.
‘My future, now I don’t know, but I know I am the coach of Nigeria, and maybe in a few days, my president will tell me it is finished, or I continue’, he said.
‘For now, I will analyse this game and the AFCON, and we have one more game against Egypt. I am proud of my players but disappointed for them because, in reality, we were perhaps the best team in this tournament’.
Nigeria remained unbeaten throughout the AFCON under Chelle, scoring a tournament-high 14 goals, their best-ever tally in a single edition.
Under his guidance, Nigeria recorded strong performances against continental heavyweights including Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Egypt, while also defeating Tanzania and Uganda, who will co-host the next edition of the tournament alongside Kenya in 2027.
The AFCON run also came against the backdrop of a difficult World Cup qualifying campaign, which Chelle inherited midway through. Although Nigeria ultimately failed to qualify for the 2026 finals, the coach steered the team from a precarious position to the final day of the qualifiers and into the play-offs.
‘If you coach Nigeria, you must win everything’, Chelle told CAF before the start of the AFCON, a mindset Gusau believes has driven the team’s renewed competitiveness.
In addition to backing Chelle to continue, Gusau also stressed that the federation was keen to shift focus to preparations for the next AFCON qualifiers, which start in March.
‘The journey to the next AFCON starts immediately’, he said.
‘We do not have the luxury of time to dwell on what we have done here. We must set to work immediately. For now, we are excited about the squad that we have. The bottom line is that the future looks very bright’.
Gusau said the team’s display in Morocco demonstrated that Nigeria had moved on from the disappointment of consecutive failures to qualify for the FIFA World Cup and was now positioned to rise again on the continental stage.
‘When we landed in Morocco towards the end of last year, our objective was to win the AFCON trophy and be champions of Africa’, he said.
‘Today, we finished in third place and won the bronze medals instead. We missed our target, but my joy is in the way our team played. They played with zest and patriotic fervour, and showed resilience and character’.
