Should he go or not?
Immediate past coach of the
Super Eagles of Nigeria,
Stephen Keshi may not have
exaggerated on his claims of
having ‘other offers’ outside
Nigeria, as SL10.ng can
exclusively report that the
52-year old is a subject of
interest from the Ethiopia
Football Federation.
The former Nigeria skipper
was replaced as the Super
Eagles coach on Thursday by
the Amaju Pinnick-led Nigeria
Football Federation (NFF)
executive committee and
promptly replaced by Amodu
Shuaibu – albeit on an
interim capacity.
However, SL10.ng have
exclusively gathered from
sources inside the Ethiopia
Football Federation (EFF)
that the EFF have shortlisted
Keshi, as well as two other
coaches to replace the
under-fire Mariano Barreto,
who’s currently handling the
Ethiopian men’s national
football team.
The Walya Ibex of Ethiopia
are bottom of group B, in the
qualifiers for the 2015 Africa
Cup of Nations with three
points from four games –
their first and only win
coming on Wednesday in a
hard fought 3-2 win over
Mali in Bamako. And with
qualification looking very
unlikely, the EFF have
shortlisted three candidates
that could replace the 57-
year old Barreto, with
Stephen Keshi being the
prime candidate.
The Ethiopia Football
Federation are yet to make
any official statement to this
effect, but SL10.ng
understands that the
executive committee led by
Juneidi Basha will meet
within the next two weeks to
decide Barreto’s fate, and
possibly the appointment of
Keshi.
“The executive committee will
meet within the next two
weeks because Barreto will
be fired, and Keshi is likely
to be appointed. Two other
coaches have also been
shortlisted but many of the
executive committee
members believe Keshi is the
right man,” a source
informed SL10.ng.
Barreto, an Indian-born
Portuguese coach replaced
Bishaw Sewnet in April 2014
and was tasked with leading
the Walya Ibex to next year’s
Africa Cup of Nations but
with Ethiopia all but out of
the qualifying race, Keshi
looks set to become the next
coach of the Ethiopian team.
Meanwhile, the Stephen
Keshi camp has refused to
deny or confirm the interest.
Emmanual Ado, Keshi’s
agent told SL10.ng that they
would not be confirming or
denying anything at the
moment.
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