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Sunday Oliseh Resigns As Nigeria Soccer Coach

Sunday Oliseh Resigns As Nigeria Soccer Coach

Nigeria national team coach Sunday Oliseh has decided to resign from his role at the helm of the Super Eagles with immediate effect.

The former captain of the national team has been in charge since taking over in July 2015, but his tenure as coach has been fraught with struggles between the football authorities and some players.

For this reason he has decided to discontinue his association with the team. In a letter sent to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Thursday, Oliseh resigned while thanking the federation for the opportunity to have coached the team.

The former Ajax Amsterdam player took to social media to address his followers and publicly announce his departure from the Super Eagles fold.

Tweeting from his verified Twitter account, Oliseh wrote: “I feel fortunate, blessed and eternally grateful for having had the honour to Play, Captain & Coach this great Nation of ours, Nigeria.”

He then added: “Due to Contract violations, lack of Support, Unpaid wages, Benefits to my players, Asst.Coaches & myself, I resign as Super Eagles Chief Coach.”

2016 CHAN Disappointment Ended Oliseh’s Stay

The news comes off the back of a disappointing performance for the Nigerians at the 2016 African Nations Championship in Rwanda, where the team did not progress from the group stages of the competition.

The Super Eagles won their first match of the campaign 4-1 against Niger before a 1-1 draw with Tunisia, leaving them needing to hold the Guinea national team to a stalemate, but instead they fell to a 1-0 defeat.

Following the tournament exit, he had kind words for his players, blaming struggles on the pitch on a lack of financial backing from authorities in Nigeria.

Since that disappointment the pressure on Oliseh has been mounting, with reports suggesting that veteran African national team coaches Herve Renard and Claude Le Roy had shown interest in replacing the man who was still at the helm.

Renard has since been confirmed as the new coach of the Moroccan national team, but now the race is on to see who will emerge to replace Oliseh.

The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying matches against Egypt in March pose a serious problem for the Nigerian officials, as they may not be able to find a full time replacement in time for those encounters.