Vincent Enyeama, former Super Eagles goalkeeper, has provided insight into his decision not to pursue the head coaching position of the Nigerian national team.
Following Jose Peseiro’s departure as the Super Eagles head coach after the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in February, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is yet to announce a permanent replacement.
Enyeama, renowned as one of the greatest goalkeepers in African football history, cited two reasons for his choice not to compete for the role.
In an interview with Afrik-Foot, the 41-year-old disclosed that since retiring from professional football, he has transitioned into the hotel business.
He explained, “No, no, no. It’s not that I am not interested; it’s just that I am not certified.”
“For you to be able to coach the Super Eagles, you must be certified. That’s the minimum standard.
“That’s the number one reason, and the fact that I have been very busy developing and managing my hotel has taken a lot of my attention, and that business is the most important thing for me now.
“So football is like number two for me now, unless just one day the Nigeria Football Federation says, ‘Please come and share your wealth of experience in this area with these players,’ then it becomes a different thing altogether.
“For now, I have to wait until I get the necessary certificate before I can say this is where I want to coach or the area where I can support the national teams.”
Enyeama also expressed his preference for coaching an entire team rather than serving solely as a goalkeeper trainer.
“Whatever I am doing now is how to become a full coach of a team, and not just goalies trainer. If I have to be a goalies trainer then, it has to be with very young ones in junior teams because they are the ones you really teach. They are still growing and open to learning new things; with these ones you can easily transmit what you want.
“Some of the established goalkeepers are not so easy to manage because they already have fixed mindsets kind of. When you are called into the national team, you don’t really coach them but manage them. That’s why most trainers usually introduce exercises that would keep the goalkeepers very fit, as they already are formed and firm in other areas.
“It will be nice to manage the full team because, as a goalkeeper, you always have a full view of the field and what everyone is doing at any given time. And that’s why most goalies make good coaches, and most midfielders do well too, as we can see in (Pep) Guardiola, (Xabi) Alonso, Xavi. They were all midfielders,” Enyeama said.
