Former Nigeria men’s national team coach Augustine Eguavoen is set to take temporary charge of the Super Falcons for their two-match 2028 Olympic qualifying tie against Comoros next month.
The 61-year-old, who currently serves as technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), is expected to oversee the women’s national team for the matches on 7 and 10 October.
Nigeria are without a permanent coach after the team’s disappointing campaign at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations led to changes within the technical set-up.
Former coach Justin Madugu and members of his coaching staff were asked to resign by the previous NFF board following the tournament. However, the administration headed by Gusau left office without appointing a replacement, leaving the Super Falcons facing their Olympic qualifiers without a permanent head coach.
According to reports from Nigerian journalist Mike The Pundit, the NFF, now led by General Secretary Emmanuel Ikpeme, has decided that Eguavoen will step in for the two fixtures against Comoros.
The decision means Eguavoen will take on a new role after spending much of his career working within Nigeria’s football administration and men’s national team structure.
Eguavoen has been involved with the NFF in a number of capacities for almost 20 years. During that period, he has repeatedly been called upon to take temporary charge of the Super Eagles when the position of head coach became vacant.
His latest assignment, however, represents a significant departure because it will be his first experience coaching a women’s national side.
The former Super Eagles coach will have little time to prepare the Super Falcons before they face Comoros in the back-to-back Olympic qualifiers.
Nigeria’s women’s team remain one of Africa’s most successful sides, having won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 10 times. Despite that record, their recent performances have raised questions about the team’s current form and expectations ahead of the Olympic qualifying matches.
On paper, Nigeria possess considerably more individual quality than Comoros and would normally be expected to come through the tie. But the circumstances surrounding the team make the fixtures more difficult to predict.
The absence of a permanent coach, combined with the uncertainty created by the recent changes at the NFF, has left the Super Falcons preparing for an important stage of their Olympic qualification campaign under temporary leadership.
Eguavoen’s appointment also comes at a time when the federation is unlikely to have enough time to identify and appoint a permanent coach before the October fixtures.
The decision has therefore been viewed as a short-term solution to an immediate problem rather than a long-term plan for the Super Falcons.
Despite the coaching uncertainty, Nigeria will be expected to approach the Comoros matches seriously. Their superior individual talent should give them a strong advantage, but the team cannot afford to underestimate their opponents.
The two games will be Eguavoen’s first opportunity to lead a women’s team, while also providing the NFF with an early test of whether its temporary solution can deliver the desired result.
Failure to overcome Comoros would represent a major setback for the Super Falcons and put further pressure on both Eguavoen and the federation officials who selected him for the assignment.
For now, Nigeria’s immediate objective is clear: navigate the two October matches successfully and keep their hopes of reaching the 2028 Olympic Games alive.
The Super Falcons will therefore enter the qualifiers with a familiar figure from Nigerian football in charge, but with considerable attention on whether Eguavoen can successfully make the transition from overseeing the men’s national team to managing one of Africa’s most decorated women’s sides.
