Former Super Falcons coach Godwin Izilein says hiring a foreign coach for the Super Eagles by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will not help in developing Nigerian football.
Mr Izilein told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Wednesday that foreign coaches are only interested in the money and not the development of football in the country of their employers.
“If our football administrators are truly interested in the development of football, then they must not foreclose the appointment of indigenous coaches.
“What they need to do to get the best out of the indigenous coaches are training and retraining,” he said.
The former coach said there was no way a foreign coach’s appointment would help in developing Nigerian football.
“Their (foreign coaches’) interest is not about anything but the money they are getting.
“And that is why, as I have said before, our indigenous coaches are better once you keep on training them.
“Indigenous coaches are also hungry to make names for themselves, unlike the foreign ones,” he said.
Mr Izilein advised further that indigenous coaches should be employed by the NFF in each of the six geo-political zones to hunt for talents.
“These coaches should be assessed based on their performances on a yearly basis and anyone who does not measure up should be fired,” he said. “These coaches should also be trained and retrained.”
The former Super Falcons coach said the NFF could also get a good coach to be appointed for the senior national team from this pool of coaches.
He pointed out that it would be unwise to use the mistake of one indigenous coach to judge or rate the rest of the country.
“That will be a disservice to them,” Mr Izilein added.
