Nigeria appointed German coach Bruno Labbadia on Tuesday to lead the men’s national soccer team, aiming to revive their struggling World Cup qualifying campaign.
“The appointment is effective immediately,” announced Mohammed Sanusi, the general secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Labbadia, 58, has been out of work since April 2023, when Stuttgart dismissed him after failing to halt the club’s decline to the bottom of the Bundesliga.
Nigeria currently sits second from the bottom in their 2026 World Cup qualifying group, having failed to secure a win in their first four matches.
The Super Eagles drew 1-1 against both Lesotho and Zimbabwe last November before Portuguese coach José Peseiro guided them to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. Nigeria lost the final to host nation Ivory Coast in February.
In April, the NFF promoted Peseiro’s assistant, Finidi George, to head coach after Peseiro’s departure. However, George was unable to turn around the team’s World Cup qualifying performance.
George oversaw a 1-1 draw with South Africa and a 2-1 loss to Benin in June. He reportedly resigned after being kept in the dark about the NFF’s plan to appoint a technical advisor to oversee his work, though the NFF did not publicly confirm his resignation.
During his second stint at Stuttgart, Labbadia managed only two wins out of 12 games — one in the Bundesliga and one in the German Cup. His successor, Sebastian Hoeneß, eventually saved the club from relegation and achieved a club-record points total last season.
Labbadia previously coached Hertha Berlin, Wolfsburg, Hamburger SV, Bayer Leverkusen, and Darmstadt. As a forward, he helped Bayern Munich and Kaiserslautern win Bundesliga titles in the 1990s.
Labbadia’s first two games with Nigeria will be in the 2025 Africa Cup qualifying against Benin and Rwanda on Sept. 7 and 10, respectively.