Former Nigeria captain Sunday Oliseh has urged the Nigeria Football Federation to allow Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle to take complete charge of player selection and squad management, warning administrators against crossing into technical territory.

Oliseh calls for clear roles

Speaking in an interview broadcast by Lagos sports radio station Brila FM, the former Ajax and Juventus midfielder said the NFF should focus on its administrative duties instead of making decisions connected to the team’s work on the pitch.

Oliseh believes the federation’s priorities should include administration, facilities, commercial development and travel arrangements, while Chelle should have the authority to manage players and choose his squad.

• The coach must lead all football-related and technical decisions.
• Player handling should remain solely within the manager’s remit.
• The NFF should concentrate on running the wider structures around the national side.

“There has to be a framework and someone in charge if you want to succeed,” Oliseh said. “The manager must truly be the manager. Player management belongs to him; it is not something the federation should be dealing with. Federation officials are there to administer.”

Federation should support the team

The former Super Eagles skipper said the NFF’s central task is to provide the conditions that enable coaches and players to deliver results, rather than seek recognition for wins achieved on the field.

In his view, footballing achievements belong to those directly involved in matches, while administrators should be judged by the quality of the support system they create.

“Football success should not be credited to those in administration,” he said. “The players and managers deserve that recognition.”

He added that federation officials should instead take pride in how efficiently off-field operations are handled, including commercialisation and infrastructure.

• Players and coaches are responsible for results, whether victories or defeats.
• Administrators should be accountable for the smooth running of non-playing operations.
• Commercial development and infrastructure are areas in which the federation should measure its performance.

“That is where you can earn praise: making everything away from the pitch work properly, through commercialisation and infrastructure,” Oliseh said. “You cannot claim the credit for a win or a loss on the scoreboard. That belongs to the people performing the job.”

Oliseh, who captained Nigeria to second place at the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations and a bronze-medal finish at the 2002 AFCON, described coaches and players as the game’s key participants.

He said everyone outside that group, including football administrators, should be regarded as facilitators whose job is to give the team the backing it requires.

“The real actors in football are the managers and the players,” Oliseh said. “Anyone else is not an actor but a spectator and a facilitator. That is simply how it works.”