2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner Vincent Enyeama has revealed his eyes are set on becoming the head coach of the Super Eagles in the not-too-distant future, Soccernet.ng reports.
Enyeama confessed that two factors stopped him from joining others in applying for the position, as it has been vacant since the departure of Portuguese tactician Jose Peseiro.
It would be recalled that several former Nigeria internationals, including Daniel Amokachi, Michael Nsien, George Finidi, and Emmanuel Amunike, showed interest in becoming the head coach of the national team after Peseiro quit the role.
The former Sporting Lisbon and Porto boss had guided the Super Eagles to the final of the 2023 AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire. Still, he left the position after failing to reach a contract extension agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF.
Former Lille goalkeeper Enyeama has revealed he would have also thrown his hat in the ring for the job if he had secured his coaching certificate and was not so invested in his hotel business.
Since his retirement, the CAF Champions League winner has devoted his time and resources to the growth and expansion of the Vinpy Hotels.
In between his business endeavours, Enyeama has been shuttling Europe and Nigeria, working on getting his coaching papers.
The former Enyimba FC goalie maintains that, but for these two impediments, he would have been in the running to be the new Super Eagles coach.
Asked in a chat with Afrik-Foot why he has not applied to work with the national team as many others have done, Enyeama replied,
“No, no, no. It’s not that I am not interested; it’s just that I am not certified. For you to be able to coach the Super Eagles, you must be certified. That’s the minimum standard.
“That’s the number one reason, and then for the fact that I have been very busy developing and managing my hotel has taken a lot of my attention, and that business is the most important thing for me now.
“So football is like number two for me now unless just one day the Nigeria Football Federation says, ‘Please come and share your wealth of experience in this area with these players,’ then it becomes a different thing altogether.
“For now, I have to wait until I get the necessary certificate before I can say this is where I want to coach or the area where I can support the national teams.”
Former Nigerian goalkeepers often tend to become goalkeeper coaches after they end their playing careers.
However, Enyeama insists his desire is not to join the queue for goalkeeping coaches but to handle a senior team as the head coach.
“Whatever I am doing now is how to become a full coach of a team, and not just goalies trainer. If I have to be a goalies trainer, then it has to be with very young ones in junior teams because they are the ones you really teach.
“They are still growing and open to learning new things; these ones you can easily transmit what you want.
“Some of the established goalkeepers are not so easy to manage because they already have fixed mindsets kind of. When you are called into the national team, you don’t really coach them but manage them.
“That’s why most trainers usually introduce exercises that would keep the goalkeepers very fit as they already are formed and firm in other areas.
“It will be nice to manage the full team because, as a goalkeeper, you always have a full view of the field and what everyone is doing at any given time.
“And that’s why most goalies make good coaches and most midfielders do well too, as we can see in (Pep) Guardiola, (Xabi) Alonso, Xavi. They were all midfielders.”
Enyeama is the most capped Super Eagles goalkeeper, with 101 appearances for the three-time African champions before retiring in 2015.
