Augustine Eguavoen
The stringent regulations of German tax authorities have thwarted an agreement between the Nigeria Football Federation and Coach Bruno Labbadia, who was slated to take the helm of Nigeria’s Senior Men’s Team, the Super Eagles.
This was stated in a statement by the NFF Communications Department on Friday.
According to the statement, by Ibrahim Musa Gusau, the federation had been on the tax issue for three days.
Gusau further disclosed that an agreement in principle had already been reached with Labbadia before the issue of taxes was raised.
He stated, “We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF would 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.”
With the deal for Labbadia now off the table, the NFF announced that Technical Director Coach Augustine Eguavoen will step in to lead the Super Eagles.
Eguavoen will be in charge of the upcoming 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin Republic in Uyo on September 7 and Rwanda in Kigali on September 10.
