The former German international’s appointment was announced by the Nigeria Football Federation on social media on Tuesday, saying his appointment was “with immediate effect” but without giving any details of the contract duration.

Labbadia takes charge 12 days before Nigeria kick off their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with a Group D tie home match to neighbours Benin in Uyo. The team also play away in Rwanda three days later.

The 58-year-old is a seasoned Bundesliga coach with spells at Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburg, VfB Stuttgart, VfL Wolfsburg and Hertha Berlin. This will be his first job outside Germany.

As a player, Labbadia was a prolific scorer, notching at least 200 goals in a career that included a spell with Bayern Munich.

He replaces Finidi George, who was in charge for four matches earlier this year.

Labbadia, who won two caps for his country, will spend the rest of the year focusing on qualifying the Super Eagles for the next Cup of Nations finals, which will be hosted in Morocco in late 2025.

Nigeria are top seeds in a group that also includes Libya, with the top two teams qualifying.

But from next March, the German will have a much tougher task as Nigeria resume World Cup qualifying.

They are winless after their opening four games in African qualifying Group C and sit fifth out of six teams, although they still have another six matches to play in their bid to win the group and take a berth at the 2026 finals in North America.

It has been a surprisingly poor start, especially after the fine form Nigeria displayed in reaching the Cup of Nations final in the Ivory Coast at the start of the year.

Their Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro was not offered a renewal of his contract despite their best performance at the two-yearly African championship since winning the Cup of Nations in 2013, and left immediately after the tournament.

Nigeria have employed a long list of foreign coaches, including former German World Cup winner Berti Vogts, well-travelled Serb Bora Milutinovic and Brazilian Otto Gloria, but the job has a reputation as one of the toughest in African sport with demanding fans and regular administrative foibles.

Nigeria are three-time African champions and have qualified for six of the last eight World Cups, although they missed out on the last finals in Qatar in 2022.

Source: News Agencies

Portugal legend Pepe has retired from football, the 41-year-old former Real Madrid defender said on Thursday.

Pepe’s last game came at Euro 2024, where Portugal were defeated by France on penalties in the quarterfinals, and he became the oldest player to appear at a European Championship finals tournament.

“I want to thank God for giving me the wisdom to be able to continue my journey,” an emotional Pepe said in a video on social media that looked back on his career.

“I can’t help but also thank all the presidents who bet and believed in me to be able to perform my work. To all the employees of all the clubs I’ve been to, who are the soul and essence of the clubs and the national team.

“And I want to thank everyone in the background. I want to leave a thank you and a hug of gratitude for all of you. And thank you all very much.”

Pepe made 141 appearances for his country, winning the Euros in 2016, and spent 10 seasons at Real Madrid, where he won three LaLiga titles and three Champions League trophies, as well as two FIFA Club World Cups.

Pepe joined the Spanish side in 2007 from Porto, and returned to the Portuguese club in 2019, remaining until the end of his career and winning four Primeira Liga titles across his two spells at the club.