Eguavoen’s Super Falcons staff: Meet the coaches chasing Olympic qualification

The Nigeria Football Federation has handed Augustine Eguavoen a short-term but important assignment to guide the Super Falcons through the opening stage of their race for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Afrik-Foot reports.

The former Super Eagles coach takes over after Justine Madugu’s departure, with the NFF still searching for a permanent head coach, per ESPN.

Eguavoen’s first challenge is Comoros in the second round of the African qualifiers. Both legs will be played at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne-Remo on October 9 and 13. Nigeria received a bye into this round as one of Africa’s three highest-ranked teams, while Comoros reached it after a remarkable 30-0 aggregate win over Sudan.

The road to Los Angeles is long. Nigeria must survive four two-legged rounds to secure one of Africa’s two Olympic places. The next round, if they beat Comoros, could bring either DR Congo or Morocco in February 2027.

Eguavoen will not tackle the ‘risky’ assignment alone. His staff combines senior men’s national-team experience, long service in Nigeria’s women’s game and the perspective of a former Super Falcons international who actually played at an Olympic Games.

Augustine Eguavoen: The experienced hand

Eguavoen brings the most senior international coaching experience to the group. The former Nigeria captain has taken charge of the Super Eagles on several occasions and led them to third place at the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. He also guided Nigeria at the 2021 AFCON, where they won all three group matches before Tunisia eliminated them 1-0 in the round of 16.

His latest appointment creates an unusual chapter in Nigerian football. Eguavoen has worked mainly with the men’s national team, but now he must prepare the country’s most successful senior national side, the 10-time African champions, for a women’s Olympic qualifying campaign.

The NFF has made the role explicitly interim, meaning his immediate focus is the Comoros tie rather than building a long-term Falcons project.

Christopher Danjuma: The women’s football specialist

In Christopher Danjuma, Eguavoen has an assistant with deep recent experience inside Nigeria’s women’s national-team structure.

The current Nasarawa Amazons coach has worked across Nigeria’s women’s teams and has previously taken temporary charge of the Super Falcons. In 2015, he became acting head coach of the senior team after the previous coaching contract ended, with the 2016 Olympic qualifiers against Equatorial Guinea among his first assignments.

He later returned to the Falconets and was appointed their head coach in 2023. Danjuma led Nigeria’s U-20 women to the quarter-finals of the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica.

That experience could be crucial in October. Danjuma knows the women’s player pool, the domestic system and the demands of African women’s football, giving Eguavoen a coach who has already worked inside the environment he is entering.

Ayisat Yusuf: From Super Falcons defender to coach

Yusuf brings a different kind of experience. She played for Nigeria before moving into coaching and football development, earning 68 international caps and representing the Super Falcons at four Women’s Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, three Women’s World Cups and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Her playing career included clubs in Nigeria, Finland and Sweden. After retiring in 2009, she built a coaching career in Finland and earned a UEFA B licence. In 2025, she was appointed head coach of Tikkurilan Palloseura’s T2014 and T2015 girls’ teams.

Yusuf also founded the SheFootball Initiative, which works to create opportunities for girls through football. Her experience as a former Falcons defender gives Eguavoen a voice on the staff that understands the national team from inside the dressing room.

Olatunji Baruwa: The goalkeeper specialist

Baruwa is the technical crew’s goalkeeper expert. He has worked with several Nigerian national teams, including the Super Eagles, CHAN Eagles, Flying Eagles and Golden Eaglets.

He also served as the Super Eagles’ goalkeeper trainer under Jose Peseiro and was retained when Finidi George became head coach in 2024. Nigeria finished runners-up at the 2023 AFCON in Ivory Coast with Baruwa part of the technical setup.

His latest assignment shifts him into the women’s game, where his immediate task will be preparing Nigeria’s goalkeepers for two matches that could set the direction of the Olympic campaign.