Super Falcons Head Coach, Thomas Dennerby has reportedly threatened to dump the team over claims of interference.
Dennerby, who returned to his native country of Sweden two weeks ago, is not back in Nigeria to lead the team against the Elephants with two weeks to go to the first leg tie in Abidjan.
The Swede left the country after leading the Super Falcons to the third round of the African Women’s Olympic qualifiers. This was after a 3-0 aggregate win over Algeria but he is now on the verge of leaving his post.
The 60-year-old gaffer, who led Sweden to finish third at the 2011 Women’s World Cup in Germany, had signed a two-and-a-half-year contract to take charge of the team in January 2018.
In his last 18-months in charge, Dennerby led Nigeria to a third-place finish at the 2018 Wafu Women’s Cup in Cote d’Ivoire, where he returned to lift the title in 2019.
He also won the 2018 African Women’s Cup of Nations in Ghana and later steered the nation to the Women’s World Cup knockout stage for the first time in 20 years in France earlier this summer.
Dennerby and the Nigeria Football Federation are yet to comment on the matter, but a top NFF source told us the gaffer is threatening to quit due to his frustration and lack of support.
Having learned about Dennerby’s stance, the NFF has swiftly drafted U20 women’s head coach Christopher Danjuma to lead the team against Clementine Toure’s side, on the interim basis.
Danjuma, who recently invited 37 players, will be assisted by his U20 assistants – Wemimo Matthew and Abdul-Lateef Yusuf as the Super Falcons open camp in Abuja on Sunday.
It is not the first time Dennerby had threatened to quit for similar reasons. At the moment, it is unclear whether the NFF, led by Amaju Pinnick, will be interested to honour the demands of Dennerby.
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