Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Shehu Dikko, has confirmed that Super Eagles head coach, Eric Chelle, will remain in charge of Nigeria’s Super Eagles after an agreement was reached on a new contract.
Salary Increase, NFF To Also Pay Chelle’s Assistants
Dikko revealed this to journalists on Tuesday, following a meeting between officials of the NSC and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) in Abuja, where plans for the future of the national teams were discussed.
Chelle’s initial two-year contract is due to expire at the end of 2026, and negotiations over an improved deal have been ongoing in recent months.
After a third-place finish at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, Chelle was reported to have requested a monthly salary package of $130,000, which would also cover the remuneration of his assistants, among other conditions.
It is believed that his new salary will be $100,000, which will double his current earning of $50,000.
According to Dikko, the NFF will now pick up the bills of Chelle’s assistants, removing the burden of paying them directly from his own wages.
“With this new contract and new remuneration I think the NFF will do the necessary and finalise it,” Dikko said. “But at least I can confirm to you we have agreed a new terms with the Coach pending when the NFF will put it on the paper. But at least we have agreed to settle with the coach about his new remuneration we are going to increase his money.
“We are also going to take care of his assistants that are helping him and I’m sure the coach would be excited about it that has been put out of the way so NFF will deal with the rest.”
Building Towards World Cup 2030
Dikko also disclosed that Chelle will now be in charge of the U-23 Eagles team.
The last time the U-23 Eagles featured at the Olympics was in 2016 in Rio, where they won bronze medal under former Nigeria international Samson Siasia.
Also Read: If We Trust Chelle He’ll Qualify Us For Next World Cup –Ex-Super Eagles Star
Since then, the team failed to qualify for the last two Olympics in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
Dikko said:“We have discussed how we can build for the future because now we have the next AFCON, we have the next World Cup so we have to start preparing now, we have to start putting our heads together so that all the mistakes we has will not happen again, it is important to learn from our mistakes and see how we can make things better.
“So on that aspect we also agreed with the NFF that the coach will also take care of the U-23 national team because we can see the young players already coming to the Super Eagles who are within that age who are products of the future so instead of having different ideas, let’s have ideas from the U-23 to the Super Eagles so Eric Chelle and his team would add one or two people to support them.
“The objective is we have to build for 2030 now, we have to start building by bringing in the young ones now that would join the team which putting the blocks and the foundation.”
AFCON 2027 Qualifying Assignment
A Chelle’s next assignment with the Super Eagles is the qualifiers for the 2027 African Cup of Nations which will begin in September, 2026.
He recently led the Super Eagles to defend their Unity Cup title after a 3-0 win against Jamaica in the final in London in May.
By James Agberebi
