The president of the Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick has revealed the role manager of Arsenal Arsene Wenger and former Liverpool boss Gerrard Houllier played in helping Nigeria appoint Gernot Rohr as coach.
Pinnick said Wenger was contacted by the Nigeria Football Federation ( NFF) shortly after they were placed in a tough group for the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, alongside Cameroon, Algeria and Zambia.
” When we saw the draw for the World Cup, we knew we were condemned to a tough group, and we were determined that we must overcome it”, Pinnick said at an event in Lagos.
” The first thing we identified was that we needed a new coach, so we reached out to Arsene Wenger and to Gérard Houllier, and one name kept coming to the fore, Rohr.
“Now we have no regrets about hiring him and he has proven himself not just by qualifying for the World Cup, but with the foundation he is laying for our team which now has young players from the age of 19”, Pinnick concluded.
Ade Emmanuel
