The former coach of the senior national team of Cameroon António Conceição has officially joined the race to replace Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro after the job was declared vacant by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
NFF made the decision to make the position vacant after failing to reach an agreement with Peseiro, whose contract expired at the end of last month and terms over an extension of his deal wasn’t reached due to disparity on his monthly wage.
While Peseiro is demanding for $120,000 a month pay, the NFF initially offered him $50,000 a month but later submitted an offer of $80,000 a month pay to the Portuguese but he rejected the latest offer making the NFF to declare the job vacant.
Conceição who is Portuguese like Peseiro and shares a very close relationship with the former Super Eagles coach has thrown his hat in the ring, although he is also in talks for a possible return as coach of the senior national team of Cameroon.
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The coach who helped Cameroon to a bronze medal finish at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations was constantly in touch with Peseiro during the AFCON, per what we exclusively gathered and was contacted by his compatriot before the win over Cameroon in the round of 16.
This is the second time that he will be applying for the Super Eagles post after failing to nick it last time out with the NFF deciding to hand the job to Peseiro, who led the team to a second place at the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire.
Nigeria were beaten 2-1 in the final by the host, but Peseiro did meet the target of a semi final spot to trigger an extension to the short term deal he signed to cover the period of the AFCON. However a dispute over pay as mentioned above has now opened the door for Conceição, who can easily pass as his friend to replace him as coach of the Super Eagles before the resumption of the qualifiers for the World Cup 2026.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
