TheCable

The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has disclosed that it consulted several coaches before employing Gernot Rohr as Super Eagles coach.

One of those coaches was Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal FC, according to Amaju Pinnick, NFF president.

Rohr has been praised for qualifying Nigeria for the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a game to spare.

The French-German recently led the Eagles to a 4-2 win over Argentina in an international friendly game.

At the launch of *1945# – a shortcode which will be used for all activities on Nigeria’s 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign – Pinnick spoke on the process that led to the eventual selection of Rohr to head the Super Eagles.

“It has been a tortuous journey. Remember we did not qualify for the last two Nations Cup,” he said.

“Between the three of us; Shehu Dikko, Seyi Akinwunmi and myself, we held series of meetings in my house and we looked at the A to Z of everything that could be an impediment to our qualifying for the World Cup.

“We looked at the politics of the game. We looked at the welfare of the players. We looked at the technical crew. We looked at so many things.

“First thing we did was getting a coach. Of course. We all remember the name of the first coach Paul Le Guen. To us it was a blessing in disguise because when we decided again that we wanted a coach, and everybody know that I am an Arsenal supporter, we tried to reach out to Arsene Wenger for a consultation on a coach.

“We tried to reach out to Gerard Houllier (former Liverpool and France coach). I reached out to so many coaches and technical experts, and one name came to their fore and that was Gernot Rohr.”