NFF offers Rohr new contract compelling him to live in Nigeria and only have three holidays a year

SUPER Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has been offered an extension to his contract with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) with several new conditions including one stipulating that he must live in Nigeria and only can only travel abroad on holiday three times a year.

 

Mr Rohr began work as Nigeria's head coach in August 2016 and has since done well, qualifying the team for the 2018 World Cup and winning bronze in the 2019 African Cup of Nations. His contract is up for renewal in June next year but the NFF has decided to renew it now, settling the matter before the start of the World Cup qualifiers due to begin in March.

 

NFF officials want to retain the coach until after the World Cup in 2022, indicating that his new contract will run from June 2020 until the end of 2022. He is thus likely to be given a two-and-a-half year contract with the strict condition that he lives in either Lagos or Abuja, from where he can monitor the local league.

 

Under the terms of the new deal that will see the coach get an improved pay packet from his $55,000 per month, Mr Rohr will only be allowed to travel on vacation three times in a year. In addition, the NFF will also ensure that unlike over the past three years where he earned wages tax free, that his income will be levied.

 

Furthermore, the new contract will have a clause that insists all his selections must be approved by the NFF technical committee. With all these new conditions, it is not yet certain if Rohr will accept the fresh contract but in the past, he has expressed his desire to continue on the job.

 

NFF president Amaju Pinnick has also disclosed that the NFF would move into its permanent residence, the Sunday Dankaro House, early next year. He said the federation had decided to ensure that whoever coached any of the national teams paid total attention to the job hence the fresh clause in Mr Rohr's new contract.

 

Mr Pinnick added: “We will start negotiating the new contract with Rohr in January, which would give us time to plan for the qualifiers that begin in March. We are not going to compromise our national integrity again as he must live in Nigeria and can go to Europe two or three times a year.

 

“He can stay either in Lagos or Abuja, where we are ready to provide a befitting accommodation for him. Other national teams’ coaches live in the countries where they work and ours cannot be different.

 

“I must admit that the last contract was loose in so many areas but we want to correct that now. We are getting into a very critical time in the World Cup qualifiers and we must be ready if we desired to be in Qatar."

 

Meanwhile, the NFF has also decided that all Nigerian U-17 footballers will surrender all their economic rights to the federation. Any player linked to agents will have to choose whether to play for Nigeria or go with their agents as the NFF will sign bi ding contracts with the players’ parents.

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