NFF appoint former police officer as coach of Nigerian women's national team

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have appointed Swedish coach Thomas Dennerby as boss of the Super Falcons of Nigeria.

The Super Falcons have been without a coach since the expiration of Florence Omagbemi.

The NFF on Thursday, January 25 announced that they have reached an agreement with Dennerby to be the Super Falcons boss for two years.

The contract which is until the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo is subject to renewal if the meeting performance milestones agreed are met.

Dennerby will be in Nigeria very soon for the public unveiling.

According to the NFF announcement, the Swede will bring along his assistant coach Jorgen Petersson and another ‘highly experienced Swedish coach nominated by Dennerby himself.’

The NFF Technical and Development Committee has already shortlisted three Nigerians to work with Dennerby and Petersson as assistant coaches and goalkeeper trainer.

These three will resume work soon to start preparing the team for the upcoming WAFU Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire pending the resumption of Dennerby and Petersson.

“The NFF decided to go for a coach of the calibre of Thomas Dennerby for three reasons: to sustain and enhance the Super Falcons’ dominance on the African scene; to take the Falcons and the other women teams to the next level of challenging for laurels at global competitions like the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup and; to generally lay the foundation for the real development of women’s football in our country,” Shehu Dikko who is NFF 2nd Vice President/Chairman of Strategy is quoted to say in a statement.

Former police officer

Dennerby, 58 was a former footballer, spending nine years with Hammarby IF of Allsvenskan and played in the European Cup in 1983 and 1985.

He represented Swedish youth teams 34 times 1975 and 1981.

A former police officer also, he was coach of the Swedish women’s senior team between 2005 and 2012 and led them to the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games and 2007 and 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

He led Sweden to a third-place finish at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Dennerby was also youth coach for Stockholm FA and worked in various capacities for former club Hammarby between 1993 and 2001.

He recently worked as a scout for the Swedish FA at the 2013 and 2017 European Championships, the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada.

Dennerby confirmed his appointment in a video shared on the official Instagram account of the NFF.

“Hi, Thomas Dennerby here, I'm extremely proud, happy and honoured to be the new head coach for the Super Falcons,” the Swede said.

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“It's a real tasking and responsible watch. Of course, I hope that my experience through many years in women's football international football can contribute to the development and improvement of the team.

"Super Falcons is a team with real high potentials and they always lead with high expectations and that is really exciting. Now I really want to get started and I look forward to seeing you very soon in Nigeria. “

Assistant coach of Super Falcons

Petersson who will act as his assistant has worked with several top Swedish clubs including Moheda IF, Osters IF, Vaxjo, Alvesta Golf, IFK Varmamo, Malmo FF, Kalmar FF and Linkopings FC.

He was also the assistant coach of the Swedish U-23 women team between 2006-2012  and also worked as a scout Swedish women national team at 2017 European Championship.

Dennerby according to the NFF will live and work in Nigeria and support the other women teams whenever he has the time.

This appointment comes after American coachRandy Waldrum after the NFF had confirmed that they reached an agreement with him.

Dennerby will be tasked with taking the team to the 2018 WAFU Women’s Cup in Ivory Coast from February 10 -24.

The Super Falcons will also play the qualifiers for the 2018 AWCON and the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.