Bruno Labbadia: All you need to know about new Super Eagles Coach
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced that German strategist Bruno Labbadia will now be in charge of the Super Eagles team.
Daily Sun reported that the Secretary General of the NFF, Mohammed Sanusi made the announcement on Tuesday morning.
Since his announcement as the head coach of the team, the internet has been buzzing to know who Bruno Labbadia is what are his achievements, and the qualifications he has to move the Super Eagles team forward.
Here is all you need to know about Bruno Labbadia, the new head coach of the Super Eagles:
The German was born on February 8, 1966, in Darmstadt, West Germany.
According to reports, Labbadia’s parents are Italians with his family roots going back to Lenola, a town in the Lazio region.
His Italian parents relocated to Germany as Gastarbeiter and settled in Schneppenhausen near Darmstadt in Hesse.
When he was 18 years old, Labbadia gave up Italian citizenship and became a German citizen since in Germany only two foreigners were eligible to play in one team at the time.
He has played as a striker for various clubs, including Darmstadt 98, Hamburger SV, FC Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich, FC Köln, Werder Bremen, Arminia Bielefeld, and Karlsruher SC.
He has 557 club football appearances and scored 204 goals. He won the DFB-Pokal with FC Kaiserslautern in 1989-90, and the Bundesliga with FC Bayern Munich in 1993-94.
He only got to play two games for the German national team. The 58-year-old has not previously coached a national team but has had periods with prominent teams such as Darmstadt 98 – 2003-2006, Greuther Fürth, 2007-2008, and Bayer Leverkusen 2008-2009 Career highlights: Hamburger SV (2009-2010), VfB Stuttgart (2010-2013), Hamburger SV (2015-2016), VfL Wolfsburg (2018-19), Hertha BSC (2020-2021), and VfB Stuttgart (2022-2023).
Throughout his managerial career, Labbadia demonstrated a willingness to trust and develop emerging talent.
At VfL Wolfsburg, he was instrumental in the development of talents like Josip Brekalo and John Brooks.
While Labbadia’s managerial career has had its highs, it’s also seen its share of lows. He has been sacked multiple times, most recently from VfB Stuttgart after a poor run of results.
However, his ability to bounce back from setbacks and land jobs at other top clubs speaks to his resilience and the respect he commands within the footballing community.
One of the distinguishing features of Labbadia’s squads is their defensive organization. He frequently highlights a strong defensive structure as the cornerstone for success. While this does not always result in the most exciting football, it has proven useful in producing results.
With Labbadia’s appointment effective immediately, the German coach will be in charge when Nigeria begin their qualifying campaign for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations next month.
The Super Eagles will face Benin Republic on September 7.
