What Should Fans Expect From The New Indigenous Coaches Who Will Manage Their Clubs Respectively In 2024/2025 NPFL Season? 

2% of Nigerian new Coaches have taken charge of Nigerian top-flight clubs for the first time on the opening fixtures of the season.

The new coaches are Yemi Olarenwaju of Enyimba, Bright Ozegbagbei of Ikorodu City and Emmanuel Amunike of Heartland FC.

Yemi Olarenwaju and Emmanuel Amunike are household names, while Ozegbagbei won promotion from the NNL last season.

Emmanuel Amunike

The new NPFL technical adviser, Amunike has the highest profile and experience of replacing Christian Obi at the Dan Ayam Stadium.

Nazi Millionaire paid a huge amount of money in acquiring a slot to get back to NPFL and bring the 53-year-old coach back to the major league.

Amuneke led Tanzania to the 2019 AFCON finals and guided Nigeria U-17 Golden Eaglets to title in Chile in 2015.

He was used to expansive and attacking football, compared to how Heartland played under Christian Obi.

Amunike has previously shown an interest in taking the Super Eagles job, but his exploits with Heartland could open the door for him depending on the results and success with Owerri side .

Yemi Olarenwaju

Yemi Olarenwaju led Enyimba to third place and secured them CAF Confederation Cup as an interim head coach and immediately moved to replace Finidi George who resigned as the head coach of Enyimba Int’l of Aba after he was appointed as the coach of Nigeria’s national male football team.

He was previously Enyimba assistant coach under Finidi George.

Yema with his skills always turned around the morale of People’s Elephant.

Despite leading Aba based side to qualify for CAF Confederation Cup at the first attempt as interim manager, he won the heart of their fans because of his style of play.

He prefers a heavy possession-based style just like his boss Finidi, that was how he started his reign at Enyimba as interim Coach.

Results initially proved his approach rights with Enyimba, giving a good fight in the NPFL last season with sumptuous performance in Oriental derby against eventual league winner “Rangers Int’l” at the Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium popularly known as Cathedral.

Bright Ozegbagbei

Bright Ozegbagbei has done a remarkable job at Ikorodu City, leading them from NNL to the NPFL in just one and half years as the coach.

An expansive brand of football saw them gained promotion with successive top-placed finish both at the normal regular season and play-off in Enugu; scoring lots of goals.

That means, it is not a surprise that Ozegbagbei is considered one of the top managerial prospects around.

Nothing has changed as he his planning to continue his excellent job with Lagos based side.

One of the most impressive elements of Ikorodu City’s rise has been that they only spent less, recruiting and scouting for players at the grassroots to bolster their NNL promotion squad for the NPFL.

Bright Ozegbagbei was assistant coach to former head Coach, Sadiq Dabiri since 2022 before he was appointed as the head coach after Dabiri was relieved of his duty at the club.

In 2022 the team escaped from relegation on final day, in 2023 played a relegation playoff and promoted in 2024 into the top flight.

One of the players, skipper Waliu Ojetoye was an outstanding as he scooped 2023/24 player of the season, and Toyeeb Yusuf Ajeyigbe was also standout perfomer for his exploits in front of goal.

Owner Sammy Doherty will see him as the beacon of hope for Nigerian young coaches.

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Michael Odetunde

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Odetunde Michael Sunday is a Journalist of his generation. He combines the talent and ability of Print, Online and Broadcast Journalist in a rare manner.

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