BY KUNLE SOLAJA, ALMERE, THE NETHERLANDS

Like Germany’s Otmar Calder, Like Frenchman Philippe Troussier, Germany’s Bruno Labbadia has walked out of the coaching job of the Nigeria national football team.

Labbadia’s forerunner:  Germany’s Othman Calder – appointed by Nigeria and arrived on 20 December 1974…he dissappeared eight days later

According to a late night statement from the Nigeria Football federation (NFF), stringent regulations of German tax authorities have conspired to abort the agreement between the the federation and Coach Bruno Labbadia.

In essence, the German’s tenure as Super Eagles’ coach has ended even before it begins.   

“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”, a statement quoted the NFF president, Ibrahim Musa Gusau as saying on Friday night.

“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, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, said on Friday evening.

This is not the first time a coach will end his tenure with the Nigerian team even before the job started.

 Sports Village Square reports that Labbadia has predecessors in his compatriot, Othman Calder, Brazilian Carlos Alberto Torres and Frenchman Philippe Trousier.

  Calder was offered a job late in 1974 to succeed Jorge Augusto Penna of Brazil ho had guided the then Green Eagles to gold medal at the 2^nd All Africa Games.

 After  a team of 33 players including Segun Odegbami, was assembled for screening, the coach suddenly disappeared.

 The National Sports Commission (NSC) which employed him claimed that Calder, a former coach of FC Cologne and  FC Kaiserslautern II who arrived Nigeria on 20 Decemeber 1974 and left eight days later, suddenly put up  “ take-it-or leave-it” terms.

In 1995, Brazil’s Carlos Alberto Torres was announced as Nigeria’s coach. he travvelled down to Lagos and travelled with the Super Eagles to US for a four-nation tournament as an observer and thereafter, dissappeared.

 Another walk-away coach was the Frenchman, Philippe Troussier who was offered a second chance in 2005 after the termination of his first tenure in 1997.

 Philippe Trousier also walked out on Nigeria in 2005

After accepting the job, he refused to show up. With the break up in the the NFF deal with Labbadia, the body has reverted to its  Technical Director, Augustine Eguavoen to take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Uyo, 7^th September) and Rwanda (Kigali, 10^th September).

It will be Eguavoen’s fourth stint in charge of the three-time African champions, after earlier experience in 2005-2007, 2010 and 2022.