Nigerian football stakeholders have called on the Nigeria Football Federation to extend the same remuneration standards applied to Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle to local coaches who take charge of the national team, following confirmation that the Franco-Malian had agreed a new contract worth $100,000 per month.
The reactions followed confirmation by National Sports Commission chairman Shehu Dikko that terms had been agreed with Chelle on a new deal, alongside fresh performance benchmarks for the coach and his assistants. Chelle has also been appointed to oversee the Dream Team ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics qualifiers.
Rivers State Sports Commissioner and ex-NFF board member, Barrister Christopher Green, welcomed the principle of improved remuneration but insisted the same standard must apply to Nigerian coaches doing identical work.
“I have always advocated for equality. It does not matter where you are coming from, whether you reside in the country, whether you are a national or an expatriate. It is the same job,” Green said.
“If you are paying Chelle $80,000 or $100,000 per month, the day you are no longer comfortable with him, or the day you fire him, I also want you to pay the same thing to any local coach you want to take over. It is the same job.”
Green also questioned whether the salary increase was justified, given Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
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“What has made him deserving of this increment? Are the Super Eagles at the World Cup? No, we are not there. That is the benchmark. He has taken charge of a team that did not go to the last World Cup, but he saw the job before he took it. Is he deserving of that? That is the question for everyone to answer.”
Plateau United head coach Gbenga Ogunbote echoed the call for parity, saying that if the NFF raised Chelle’s salary to improve performance, the same logic should apply to indigenous coaches.
“The NFF wanted him to perform better; that was why they increased his salary. The same thing should apply to indigenous coaches,” Ogunbote said.
Former Super Falcons assistant coach Mansur Abdullahi was more sympathetic to Chelle’s expanded role and pay, citing the scale of the job.
“He spoke to us at a recent refresher course and addressed us. Nigeria has over 800 players all over the world, and the coaching staff is monitoring close to 300 of them. Anybody who can do this kind of job needs whatever he needs. This man has taken us back to where we were before, so the increase in salary is deserved,” Abdullahi said.
However, Abdullahi raised concerns about the workload attached to Chelle’s new dual role overseeing both the Super Eagles and the U-23 side.
“The job is too much, but he can still supervise the under-23s. They should have allowed him to continue with the home-based players and the senior team and let someone else handle the rest,” he said.
