After weeks of speculation about a new Super Eagles manager, the Nigerian Football Federation appeared to have come to the end of their search when they named Paul Le Guen as the new manager.

https://twitter.com/thenff/status/755104161021263872

The French manager then spoke to L’Equipe journalist Herve Penot and said he will not become the Super Eagles manager, and that it was incredible the NFF announced his name.

Pour info : Paul le Guen n'ira pas au Nigeria. Les conditions pas réunies pour être sélectionneur. Rien à voir aujourd'hui avec la sélection

— Herve Penot (@hpenot_lequipe) July 18, 2016

Incroyable que fédération annoncé son nom…

— Herve Penot (@hpenot_lequipe) July 18, 2016

According to Oluwashina Okeleji of the BBC, Le Guen had spoken to Amaju Pinnick, and said he was not interested in the job. In addition, Pinnick spoke with some of Le Guen’s friends to get the Frenchman to agree, but he still refused, yet the NFF went ahead to announce him.

There were two other candidates: Tom Saintfeit and current interim coach, Salisu Yusuf, but none were ever seriously considered.

It is essential for this issue to be resolved in time for the start of the World Cup Qualifiers on October 3 away to Zambia. Algeria, the continent’s best team are also in the group, and only one team qualifies.

In the meantime, there is an NFF faction led by Chris Giwa, and they continue to lurch from one crisis to another. The NFF’s handling of the search for a manager has shown why it cannot attract quality managers, and why Nigeria is likely to sit out a third straight international tournament.