From every indication, Emmanuel Amuneke will be retained as the head of the U-17 team side, whether or not he wins Sunday’s U-17 World Cup final against Mali.
Previous U-17 coaches have often been automatically promoted to the U-20 team, but the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), is determined to adopt a new strategy this time around.
“It is expected that the (NFF) president (Amaju Pinnick) will announce that Amuneke will stay on as U17 coach so as to build on the experience and gains of his first stint as head coach. The arrangement of automatically promoting a coach from U17 to U20 has not worked because we are talking of two different levels of the game,” a top official disclosed to AfricanFootball.
“Take the example of Mexico. The coach who led them to the final two years ago in Abu Dhabi is the same man who guided them to the semi-finals in Chile. There are many such examples.”
NFF president, Amaju Pinnick, has also been full of praises for the former winger and says he has earned his respect.
“He has clearly rubbished all insinuations and dark innuendoes against him and has continued to do a marvelous job quietly. He has earned his respect,” Pinnick said.
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