Theirs is regarded as the ‘golden generation’ of Nigerian for their dominant display that culminated in winning the country’s second Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title at Tunisia 1994 and significantly qualifying for the USA 1994 FIFA World Cup. Following their retirement from the game that brought them fame and fortune, many of the 1994 Class of Super Eagles have since turned their full attention to coaching .
From late ‘Big Boss’ Stephen Keshi to Austin Eguavoen to Samson Siasia and Sunday Oliseh who have served turns with Nigeria Men’s National Team, the Super Eagles, there is a new band from the 1994 Class of Super Eagles that is holding their own forte in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL). TUNDE LIADI here recounts the achievements of those who had previously handled the Super Eagles and further X-rays how well the ‘NPFL crusaders’ are currently faring on the domestic football scene…
STEPHEN KESH: Late Stephen Keshi is regarded as a pacesetter of some sort in the annals of Nigerian football . He blazed the trail of exodus of Nigerian footballers to Europe in the 1990s, he was the leader of the team as the Super Eagles dominated the continent by winning the AFCON title at Tunisia 1994 en route to their maiden appearance at the USA 1994 World Cup. The Big Boss as he was so nicknamed, was the Flying Eagles coach to the 2001 African Youth Championship in Angola before he was trusted with the Super Eagles assignment that won the 2013 AFCON in South Africa. He also qualified Togo for their historic debut World Cup and worked thereafter with Mali too.
Apart from the 2013 AFCON triumph, Keshi also led the CHAN Eagles to a bronze medal finish in South Africa the following year. Keshi was also the head coach of the Super Eagles to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. He did not coach any club on the Nigerian scene.
AUSTIN EGUAVOEN: Currently heading the Technical Department of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), he oversees all national teams in the country. But Cerezo is undoubtedly one of the 1994 Class of Super Eagles that have had long stints in the national team set up. He was a coach of the Golden Eaglets to the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Finland and has also led the national Under-23, the CHAN Eagles.
Now having a ‘four time’ spell with the Super Eagles having coached the national team first between 2005 and 2007 as well as acting in acting capacity in 2020 and on interim basis between 2021 and 2022 when he failed to qualify the team for the Qatar 2022 World Cup after losing the final play-off against the Black Stars of Ghana. He also took the Super Eagles to the 2023 AFCON where the team faltered to deceive by crashing out in the Round of 16 despite winning all their first round of matches in Cameroon. Now angling to take the Super Eagles job on full term basis, Eguavoen is currently handling the Super Eagles after taking over the reins of the team after his former teammate Finidi George stepped down on the job just after two round of matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
On the domestic scene, Eguavoen has at various times handled a string of clubs including Bendel Insurance, COD United, Gombe United, Sunshine Stars and Enyimba International FC with whom he helped to the Federation Cup title in 2009.
SAMSON SIASIA: Samson Siasia, another of the 1994 class of the Super Eagles too has led the Flying Eagles, Under 23 and the Super Eagles. He won a silver medal with the Flying Eagles at the 2005 FIFA Under 20 World Cup in Netherlands after emerging as the CAF U-20 Nations Cup in Benin Republic earlier that same year.
‘World Cup Coach’ as Siasia is called, also won a bronze medal for Nigeria with the U-23 National Team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. He later coached the Super Eagles in 2016 albeit without success following the resignation of Sunday Oliseh. Siasia coached Heartland FC and led them to the CAF Champions League competition in 2010. He was reportedly being courted by Mighty Jets of Jos who are in the Nigeria National League which is in the second tier of the Nigerian league but nothing concrete has come out of it.
SUNDAY OLISEH: Sunday Oliseh, another member of the 1994 Super Eagles returned to the same team in 2015 as a coach. He was seen then as the Pep Guardiola of Nigerian football as coined by former Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick. But he left unceremoniously as head coach in 2016 after failing with the CHAN Eagles in Rwanda and also on the verge of not qualifying Nigeria for the 2017 AFCON in Equatorial Guinea.
IKE SHORUNMU: Ike Shorunmu missed the 1994 World Cup by the whiskers following Clemens Westerhof preference of Peter Rufai, Willy Agbonavbare (late) and Alloy Agu but he was in the team that won the AFCON in Tunisia 1994. Shorunmu has served at various times as goalkeepers coach in the national team and has worked in that same capacity with some Nigerian clubs.
Shorunmu is currently with Abia Warriors as Goalkeeper trainer. This season, Abia Warriors recovered from their opening day loss to Remo Stars to pick up some commendable results at home and away including a 1-0 win in Benin City against Bendel Insurance.
But results have nosedived since then. They were beaten 2-0 by Heartland in the following game and were also pinned by Lobi Stars 3-1 in Lafia before the draw with Enyimba last weekend. They are 13th on the table with 15 points and will no doubt be eager to end their unimpressive results as they face Rivers United in Port Harcourt this weekend.
FINIDI GEORGE: Finidi George’s famous goal celebration against Greece has become iconic and after his sojourn abroad especially in Spain which became his base upon retirement he returned to Nigeria and was appointed Enyimba head coach in September 2021.
He won his first title as a coach in June 2023, winning the Nigeria Premier League at Onikan Stadium in Lagos.In April 2024, he was appointed coach of the Nigerian national football team, the Super Eagles.
Before this appointment, he was the assistant coach to Jose Peseiro and was the Interim coach who led the Super Eagles to beat Ghana 2-1in a friendly ending 18 years of unsuccessful attempts to defeat the Black Stars.
Finidi resigned unceremoniously weeks after his appointment after Eagles poor results in two key 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers following seeming lack of support from the NFF.
The former Ajax Amsterdam winger was named Rivers United head coach before the start of the 2024-25 season and masterminded the Pride of Rivers impressive start to the season winning six and drawing three of their opening nine games to go unbeaten in those games. They lost their unbeaten record in Lagos against newly promoted Ikorodu City who beat them 2-0. They were beaten in Port Harcourt in the next game by Bayelsa United but they snapped the losing streak with a goalless draw against Remo Stars last weekend in Ikenne.
Finidi’s men are second on the log with 22 points from 12 games and will hope to return to winning ways when they host Abia Warriors in Port Harcourt this weekend.
DANIEL AMOKACHI: Daniel Amokachi is another ex-player from the 1994 class who has transited to coaching. He led the Home based Eagles to the WAFU tournament hosted by Nigeria in 2010 and was later employed by FC IfeanyiUbah, Nasarawa United before his latest appointment by Lobi Stars.
He joined Lobi Stars recently but the club is already in dire strait and will need something special to beat the drop at the end of the season. They are 19th on the log with 12 points and have struggled to win two of the three games they have played at home against El Kanemi Warriors (2-2), Shooting Stars (1-0) and Abia Warriors (3-1) but lost 4-2 to Ikorodu City and 1-0 to Remo Stars.
They were pinned 1-0 by Sunshine Stars in Ijebu Ode last weekend and Amokachi and company will no doubt be under tremendous pressure to beat Kano Pillars in Lafia this weekend.
Amokachi recently announced his step up to become the club’s Technical Director while Finnish tactician Mika Lönnström is now charged with the day-to-day running of the club as head coach.
But in as much as Amokachi is still attached with Lobi Stars, he would still be judged by the performance of the club.
EMMANUEL AMUNEKE: Another coach making waves and a prominent member of the Super Eagles in 1994 is Emmanuel Amuneke, who has coached in Tanzania, Sudan, Egypt and Zambia before returning home. He was the FIFA U-17 World Cup-winning coach with the Golden Eaglets at Chile 2015after being an assistant when Nigeria also won the global cadet championship in 2013. He has briefly worked as Super Eagles’ assistant Coach in 2016 with Samson Siasia and with Austin Eguavoen in the failed attempt to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. He is now Heartland’s Technical Manager in the on-going season after serving as a consultant to the club last season.
The Naze Millionaires’ season started poorly picking just one point from possible 12 in the opening four games against Enyimba (1-3), Rivers United (1-3), Katsina United (0-0) and Shooting Stars (0-0). But results have improved with the club winning four games and drawing two out of their next seven games including the 2-0 victory in Umuahia against Abia Warriors. They were on three game winning streak before the commendable 2-2 draw in Kano against Kano Pillars last weekend.
“It is always a thing of joy to give back to the society that made you. It is normal to return home because no matter the journey you must still come back,” Amuneke told NationSports. “It is not automatic that you will be a good coach because you are a good footballer. You must go through the rudiments and also work very hard to achieve your goals.”
On Heartland FC’s early season’s struggles owing to lack of requisite experience on the part of some of the newly signed players, Amuneke said he has always maintained that the new players would come good because no one is born with experience.
“I do not have any regrets with the players we recruited at the beginning of the season,” he said in his usual frankness.” I knew the newly signed players would have to learn through the ropes and that it won’t be automatic.
“We set out to sign young players with the hearts to play for the club and I am happy we have been vindicated by our results that we didn’t make any mistakes despite the initial hiccups.”
Heartland are 10th on the log with 16 points ahead of their weekend game with Rangers International FC in Owerri in the recent Oriental derby.
results that we didn’t make any mistakes despite the initial hiccups.”
Heartland are 10th on the log with 16 points ahead of their weekend game with Rangers International FC in Owerri in the recent Oriental derby.
