President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has admitted that hiring Gernot Rohr as head coach of the Super Eagles and fighting against Issa Hayatou’s continued stay as CAF president, were the two biggest gambles he has taken as a football administrator.
Pinnick revealed this to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday.
The former Delta FA chief brought in Rohr as Sunday Oliseh’s permanent replacement, while he publicly backed Ahmad Ahmad in last month’s CAF presidential elections.
“Hiring Gernot Rohr was a gamble we the NFF Executive Committee took to save our national team after local coaches failed to deliver. Rohr has given our football hope with his unbeaten run since he took charge, and it will be mission accomplished when we get a World Cup ticket,” he said.
“The other gamble we took was my spearheading the campaign to install a new leadership in CAF. It was a decision by a group who wanted a change from the old tradition of managing the game in Africa. I know the backlash could have been terrible if we had failed, but thank God we succeeded,” Pinnick who also won a seat in CAF Executive Committee added.
He continued: “We are now in charge of affairs in CAF, and it can only rub off positively on Nigeria and Africa. Our loyalty to Ahmad Ahmad is 100 percent and by the end of the eight years, we would have taken African football to the next level.”
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