Barring a last minute change of mind 46 year old Malian coach Eric Chelle will be named as the new coach of the senior national team of Nigeria before the end of this week , OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Chelle is favoured to get the job ahead of Belgian Tom Saintfeit and English man Steve McClaren who recently picked up the vacant job of the coach of the national team of Jamaica.
Nigeria will hand the former coach of Mali a short term deal which will cover the period of the qualification for the AFCON. The deal will be a result oriented meaning the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) can terminate the contract if the team’s performance dwindles.
But who is Eric Chelle?
He was born in the Ivory Coast to a French father and a Malian mother, he played his entire professional career in France and won six caps for Mali between 2003 and 2006.
His previous job as coach before getting the job of the head coach of Mali includes working as youth coach at Marseille Consolat, before coaching spells at Martigues and Boulogne in the French lower divisions.
In the race to be appointed as the coach of Mali in 2022, the 47 year old was favoured ahead of the German duo of the senior national team of Nigeria Gernot Rohr and also Winfred Schafer formerly of Cameroon.
Chelle replaced Mohammed Magassouba as head coach of Mali and led the team for two years until he was dismissed in June after a 0-0 draw against Madagascar. The result came on a the back of a 1-2 defeat to Ghana all in the world cup qualifiers which saw them drop to 4th in their group. Four points behind surprise group leaders Comoros.
An apostle of free flowing football using wingers in a 4-4-2 formation, the former defender who holds a UEFA Pro license is however no slave to a particular tactics, but in all of his formation he is more at home with playing with two strikers.
Throughout his stay as the coach of Mali the team played with a two man attack as he is a staunch believer of the statement that attack is the best form of defense. His idea yielded good results with the team keeping ten clean sheets under his guide.
In 22 games as the coach of Mali , the team won 14 games, drew five and lost three times. They scored 36 goals and conceded 12 in return.
