South Africa picks Free State Stadium for Zimbabwe game
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) will today in Abuja formally unveil Finidi George as the new Head Coach of the Super Eagles.
George, a member of Nigeria’s Tunisia ‘94 AFCON winning squad, was announced as coach of the Super Eagles two weeks ago by the NFF following the departure of Portuguese, Jose Peseiro, who led the team to the second position at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire in February.
Today’s unveiling ceremony will be attended by Sports Development Minister, John Enoh, alongside Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs Tinuke Watti, president of NFF, Ibrahim Gusau, and the NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi.
George, who ditched an opportunity to coach a second-tier team in Spain to return to Nigeria and lead two-time CAF Champions League winners, Enyimba FC, won the tough-as-nails Nigeria elite division title with the People’s Elephant in his second season and has left the club with a chance of retaining the title this season, with six matches to go.
When Finidi formally bowed out of the Aba giants days ago, Enyimba FC remained in third place on the NPFL log, with 53 points from 32 matches, four adrift of table-toppers Enugu Rangers and three off second-placed Remo Stars.
The 52-year-old spent 20 months as assistant to Peseiro from the summer of 2022, during which the Super Eagles qualified for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and came within 28 minutes of a fourth African title in Cote d’Ivoire three months ago.
The Sagbama, Bayelsa State-born coach, as a player, won 62 caps for Nigeria at senior level, during which he won the Africa Cup of Nations gold, silver, and bronze, and played in two FIFA World Cup finals.
He has the immediate task of picking maximum points from 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against South Africa (home) and Benin Republic (away) in a few weeks.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s biggest opponent in Africa’s Group C of the 2026 World Cup qualifying series, South Africa, has continued in its preparation for the forthcoming qualifiers in which they will play Nigeria on June 7 and Zimbabwe a few days later.
South Africa Football Association (SAFA), yesterday, announced that they would play their home fixture against the Warriors of Zimbabwe at the Free State Stadium on June 11.
According to SAFA CEO, Lydia Monyepao: “We wanted the game to kick off at 19:30 because this is the traditional start of late matches in South Africa, and given that it is a midweek match, it accommodates those who are coming from work and have other engagements. But ultimately, we were given a 6.00 p.m.kick-off, and the decision was final.”
South Africa is in Group C alongside Nigeria,Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Benin and Rwanda.
The group winner will directly qualify for the World Cup, while the runner-up could compete in the play-off to advance to the inter-confederation playoffs.
