By Albert Akota
Former Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia has been appointed to lead the country’s U-23 Eagles, according to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
A communique issued after the Executive Committee of the NFF meeting held early today said: “The Committee appointed Mr. Samson Siasia as the new Head Coach of the U-23 Men’s Team. He will be assisted by Fatai Amoo, while the Technical and Development (departments) will recommend the other members of the crew.”
Siasia was appointed national U-23 coach in January 2007. In 2008, he coached the Nigerian Under-23 Olympic squad to the final against Argentina. In a superbly played series of matches, Nigeria’s team earned the Olympic silver medals. Earlier in 2008, the U-23 team won the inaugural Intercontinental Cup in Malaysia. This fine team were composed entirely of domestic Nigerian players and won the Cup against many teams headed for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
In addition to his position as head coach of the Under 23 Olympic Eagles, he developed a youth academy in the capital city, Abuja, called SiaOne Soccer Academy. On 17 March 2009, he was reappointed as the head coach of the under-20 team after the team finished a disappointing third position in the 2009 African Youth Championship.
He received a six-month contract to coach Heartland F.C. in July 2010. On 4 November 2010, he was named as the national team coach to succeed Swedish Lars Lagerbäck. He was fired on 28 October 2011 for failing to take the Nigeria team to the 2012 African Nations Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
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