Abdulazeez Abdulwahab
DAYS after walking out on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), German tactician Bruno Labbadia has announced himself as the new coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
The German tactician, through a cryptic message on his Instagram handle, declared Nigeria as a “New Chapter”.
Eighteen-Eleven Media reports that the NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, had, in the early hours of Tuesday, 27th August 2024, announced the appointment of the tactician.
“The NFF Executive Committee has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee to appoint Mr Bruno Labbadia as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The appointment is with immediate effect.”
However, a few days after the appointment was announced, the German turned it down. According to a statement signed by the President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, stringent regulations of German tax authorities conspired to abort the agreement between the NFF and Coach Labbadia for the latter to mount the saddle as Head Coach of Nigeria’s Senior Men’s Team, Super Eagles.
Quoting the NFF President, the release stated: “We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF will agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities. It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32% to 40% of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage.
“The NFF and Mr Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles. The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up. We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that,”
Meanwhile, a source in the NFF has debunked the volte-vice pointing out that the Instagram handle that made the post was fake.
Eighteen-Eleven Media