The Nigeria Football Federation on Tuesday night appointed former Mali coach Éric Sékou Chelle as Head Coach of the Super Eagles.
Born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast to a French father and a Malian mother, the 47-year-old, who made six appearances for the Mali national team between 2003 and 2006, takes over from Augustine Eguavoen, who was appointed as the Super Eagles interim coach in August 2024.
Eguavoen was drafted to replace football legend Finidi George who resigned as Super Eagles head coach in June last year, barely one month after he was appointed by the NFF. George had replaced Portuguese coach Jose Pereiro who led the Nigerian team to the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire, where they lost 2-1 to the hosts.
At the 2023 AFCON quarterfinals, despite having a one-man advantage, Chelle-led Mali gave up a lone goal in the final minute of regulation time after Simon Adingra’s last-minute equalizer. The Malians eventually lost 2-1 in extra time to the hosts and eventual winners.
After the Ivoriens’ second goal – a last-minute winner by Oumar Diakite, a now viral video captured a staff member pouring water on the head of a clearly distraught Chelle to help him recover. Although his team lost a place in the AFCON semi-finals, that moment gained global acclaim as a meme.
Chelle is now saddled with the responsibility of leading the Super Eagles team, that has already qualified for this year’s AFCON in Morocco, to a place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals, with the next round of matches scheduled for March.
During his playing career as a defender before he retired in 2014., Chelle starred for Martigues, Valenciennes, Lens, Istres and Chamois Niortais in France.
Appointed Mali’s head coach in May 2022 and dismissed in June 2024, Chelle boasts of a 45 per cent win rate from 148 matches in charge of the Malian national team and clubs in lower divisions of French football, including GS Consolat, FC Martigues, Boulogne and MC Oran.
Interestingly, Chelle was picked for the Mali job ahead of former Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr and ex-Cameroon coach Winfried Schafer.
“I believe I have the experience to meet this new challenge,” Chelle stated in 2022. Nigerian fans would be hoping his experience would count for the Super Eagles this time.
