Bruno Labbadia Dumps Super Eagles Job Over Tax Differences

–Eguavoen Appointed On Interim Capacity

Newly appointed head coach of Nigeria’s senior men football team, Bruno Labbadia has rescinded his appointment with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) over irreconcilable tax differences, Warri Sentinel has confirmed. 

This development is coming barely 72 hours after his announcement as new coach of the Super Eagles by the NFF.

However, in a new development, the NFF has now turned their attention to former Nigerian Ex International, Augustine Eguavoen who would lead the Super Eagles ahead of qualifying matches for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations tournament. Eguavoen would be preparing for his fourth stint at the role after earlier experiences in 2005-2007, 2010 and 2022.

The President of the NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, In a statement posted on the Federation’s official X handle late Friday night, cited stringent regulations of German tax authorities as barrier blocking the agreement between the Nigeria Football Federation and Coach Bruno Labbadia.

Part of the statement reads, “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, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, said on Friday evening.

In the event, Technical Director of Nigeria Football Federation, Coach Augustine Eguavoen will now take charge of the Super Eagles for the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic (Uyo, 7th September) and Rwanda (Kigali,10th September),” the statement added.