Eric Chelle was something of an unknown when he was announced as head coach of the Super Eagles back in January this year.
The 47-year-old did a decent job with his home country Mali by leading them to the quarter-finals of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire. The stakes, however, were much higher with Nigeria, who are three-time African champions and have very little room for patience.
Chelle is the first foreign head coach from another African country, with the previous ones all being Europeans. He came in between Nigeria’s qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup, which was had gone south after Jose Peseiro and ex-international Finidi George failed to pick up any win in the first hour games against Lesotho, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Benin.
This left the Super Eagles second from bottom in Group C of the African qualifiers and in danger of failing to qualify for back-to-back World Cups for the first time since their debut at the Mundial in 1994.
Nigeria got their first win of the qualifiers by defeating Rwanda 2-0 in Kigali in March, and when it seemed they were back on track, they faltered in the next game at home against Zimbabwe, conceding a needless 90th minute goal to draw 1-1.
They defeated Rwanda in the September international window, but got another disappointing 1-1 draw at South Africa, which put their chances of automatic qualification in limbo.
The Super Eagles were able to win their final two qualifiers against Lesotho and Benin but it was only good enough for second place, securing a place in the continental play-off set for next month in Morocco.
Our opponents for the African World Cup playoff semi-final are Gabon 🇬🇦.
Win here, reach the final and then the inter-confederation playoffs await.
Save the date 🗓️#SoarSuperEagles | #RoadTo2026 | #FIFAWCQ | #Naija4thewin pic.twitter.com/jJZQH1pJnq
— 🇳🇬 Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) October 15, 2025
At least there is a feeling of hope that Nigeria can still make it to the World Cup if they win the play-off against either rivals Cameroon, Gabon or DR Congo, and can be one of the two teams from the intercontinental play-off next March.
Huge credit has to be given to Chelle for how he was able to pull this off in very tough circumstances. Taking over one of the most difficult managerial jobs in Africa in the middle of a tight World Cup qualifying campaign is one heck of a risk.
Monsieur Chelle 👨🏼🍳 pic.twitter.com/NDVDBN36Qj
— 🇳🇬 Super Eagles (@NGSuperEagles) October 14, 2025
It leaves the manager with little time to work with his team and make them blend instantly. Despite this factor and injuries to influential players like Victor Osimhen, Ola Aina, Raphael Onyedika, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Bright Osayi-Samuel, who missed out on some of the qualifiers, Chelle was able to muster four wins and two draws. Not also forgetting the strong performance at the 2025 Unity Cup in London in May, which Nigeria won, and the 1-1 friendly draw with Russia.
In total, Nigeria are unbeaten in nine games under Chelle, winning five and drawing four. The former MC Oran boss has come under fire for some of his tactical decisions, but he has shown flexibility by switching to 4-4-2 (diamond), 4-4-3, 4-2-3-1 and 4-1-3-2 on different occasions. Doing all of this in one of the most intense environments is a sign of a manager that can get results under immense pressure.
Whether or not the Super Eagles make it to the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should stick with Chelle and give him all the needed support and resources to rightly put Africa’s most populous nation back at the very top.
