Former England coach, Sven-Göran Eriksson, said he turned down the job to coach the Super Eagles at the 2010 World Cup after he was told by a Nigeria Football Federation’s official that his salary would be deposited into two separate bank accounts.

Erikson disclosed this during an interview with branschen.se.

He said the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was willing to give him the job on one condition that his salary would be divided.

The 72-year-old was among the managers shortlisted for the Super Eagles’ coaching job, after late Shaibu Amodu was sacked, despite finishing third-place at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola and qualifying the Nigerian squad for the World Cup.

Asked if he ever applied for a job as a Super Eagles’ coach, Eriksson said,

I’ve never applied for a job in my entire life.

All my assignments have come about through the results I have achieved. I have never gone through any traditional job interviews, never sat down and conducted any tests or been analysed.

The closest I have come to an interview is that I met the owner or chairman of the club or national team during a dinner or some other context. But then it was really just about meeting to talk about terms and contracts.

Eriksson added,

The only time I can remember having undergone any form that resembles an interview was when I was asked about the job of Nigeria’s national team coach in 2010 ahead of the World Cup in South Africa.

I went down in the belief that I would meet the chairman of the national team association (NFF) and that it was really only contract formalities that we would go through. But when I arrived, several coaches had received the same invitation, including Lars Lagerbäck. I was very surprised but found myself quite quickly.

After a while, I was called into the room with a chairman who declared that they wanted me as a coach, but with the proviso that my salary would be divided into two parts: one that I got into my account and another that would be deposited into another account that was not in my name. There I refused on the standing. I thought something didn’t go right.

Swedish coach, Lars Lagerbäck, later got the job.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.