The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced a three-day window for applications to fill the position of head coach for the national beach soccer team, known as the Supersand Eagles.
This announcement comes just nine days before their 2024 Beach Soccer AFCON qualifier against Mauritania. This move follows the NFF’s initiative to revive the team after a five-year hiatus by establishing a committee to oversee local competitions and manage all matters related to beach soccer. The team’s last coach, Audu Adamu Ejo, who led them to their second Beach Nations Cup title in 2009, passed away in 2021 after a brief illness.
According to the NFF’s announcement, the application process will favor candidates with at least a CAF License C certificate and those who have been actively involved in beach soccer over the past three years, either through coaching or playing locally and internationally.
“The Nigeria Football Federation has requested applications from suitably qualified candidates for the vacant position of the coach of the Beach Soccer national team, otherwise known as Supersand Eagles,” the NFF stated on Wednesday.
The public notice, available on the Federation’s website, specifies that candidates should have attended at least one beach soccer refresher course organized by the NFF, be familiar with the evolving rules and dynamics of the game, and possess at least a CAF C Coaching License.
Applications will close at midnight on Friday, July 12, 2024, and a successful candidate will be named shortly thereafter. The Supersand Eagles are preparing for a two-leg Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture against Mauritania.
Mauritania will host the Super sand Eagles between July 19 and 21, with Nigeria hosting the return leg a week later. Nigeria last participated in a Beach Soccer tournament at the 2019 World Cup in Paraguay, where they did not win any matches. Before the five-year hiatus, the Super sand Eagles were a continental and, to some extent, global force in beach soccer, winning the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations in 2007 and 2009 and reaching the quarter-finals of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Italy 13 years ago.
