The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has confirmed that the appointment of Bruno Labbadia as the Super Eagles head coach has been hindered by strict German tax regulations.
As a result, Technical Director Augustine Eguavoen will now lead the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Benin Republic (Uyo, September 7) and Rwanda (Kigali, September 10).
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This will mark Eguavoen’s fourth time managing the three-time African champions, following previous stints in 2005-2007, 2010, and 2022.
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NFF President Ibrahim Gusau stated that the federation is unable to cover the additional tax costs associated with Labbadia’s salary, which was not accounted for in the initial agreement.
“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,” President of NFF, Gusau, said on Friday evening
