Emmanuel Amuneke is a former African Footballer of the Year. He played for Nigeria in the era seen as the Gold Era of the Super Eagles.
Amuneke is one of Nigeria’s most travelled coaches, having worked with teams in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tanzania, Egypt and Zambia. He is now one of the front runners for the Super Eagles job. The 53-year-old spoke exclusively to Afrik Foot on a variety of issues
In the last few days, it has been Amuneke all over the internet. We have reads things like “NFF narrows down to Amuneke and two others,” and then “NFF set to announce Amuneke as Super Eagles coach” and so much more. Have you been told anything specific by the Federation? Am I talking with the Eagles coach right now? Can we say congratulations?
Please no, I don’t want to talk about the Eagles job and the NFF (Nigeria Football Federation). I am sorry about that. If you carefully watch you would notice that I have refrained from speaking on the Eagles job thing in the last weeks. I believe it is better to confirm anything from the NFF; they are in charge.
I chose to maintain silence because in the last weeks I have heard things that I don’t know about; I have been quoted on things that I don’t even know about, especially on social media.
So, with all due respect, I think it would be wise for everybody to also maintain some silence and wait for the NFF to say things themselves. When the time comes, I will speak openly to all Nigerians; I will speak openly to everybody and I will be able to explain myself clearly. But for now I think it is better to be quiet and let the NFF on their part be allowed to do their job.
Please permit me to ask this question that is related to the job but not directly and it goes like this. Assuming you are not able to get the main job, and you are offered the opportunity to run like the U-23 Eagles or Super Eagles B team, would you be willing to work? That’s all I want to ask.
Like I said, I am very, very meticulous with what I say and do. I want to have a clear mind in everything I do, so there’s no need speculating on anything. I prefer not to say anything for now on this Eagles job, whether directly or indirectly until the right time comes for me to speak. I always give my one hundred percent commitment in anything I am involved in, and that’s why I don’t want to get involved in speculations of any type. Let’s just be patient and I will talk later.
Let’s go to Tanzania. You have been there and did quite a huge job over there. Now their national team has improved but my utmost concern here is their league. Their clubs are doing better than they ever were, and this has seen Nigerians going over there to play professionally. Nigerians are going over now, but it used to be the other way around with a lot of Ghanaians, Cameroonians etc coming into the Nigerian league. Why has that place become so attractive? I imagine it should have been the other way around. How do we look at this going over there? Is it beneficial to Nigeria football or a real gain for the Tanzanians?
Football has gone global, and it is certain that it is not everybody that can find themselves in the European continent immediately. It is normal for players to aspire to move to a better place. As long as you are focused as a player and professionally minded, and want to excel, you will be eager to move to any place that you believe is better than where you are – a place where you can experience self development; a place that can enhance their competitiveness, and of course offer you better economic opportunities.
Going to Tanzania should not be a shame or source of worry for any player. You can remember that in that country, they have two of the best teams on the continent, such that they do well in CAF (Confederation of African Football) competitions. So that place can serve very well as a stepping board for bigger goals. Tanzanian clubs have been making notable waves in CAF competitions, and their national football is on the progressive. Since they got that opportunity to return to AFCON in 2019 (Coach Amuneke led them) they have been building on that achievement. They were able to come back in this last edition. I think this is the kind of progression that any serious country should achieve. This is the country hardly anyone believed in, but they have steadily been building their football and this is a welcome development.
I am glad that I had the opportunity to work with the Tanzanians, and to be a part of this development story. Tanzanians are lovely people, well accommodating, and I can say I was treated well when I was with them. Some of the players who played under me are still playing while some have retired, and while we were together, we told ourselves that it is possible to qualify and we threw ourselves into achieving that, and Tanzania was able to qualify again for AFCON after 39 years. That was a very big step for them.
So for me, our players going to play there is nothing to be ashamed of. What we should do is to have direct analysis of why our players are moving to other countries, and what we should do is to enhance the economic lives of the players in our league in a way that they can be encouraged to play here, because we need our good players to make the league very competitive to attract investors.
You had a good time coaching Tanzania from all indications. Your bringing them back to the Africa Cup of Nations is a great one. Now, looking at all you were able to achieve, one would assume that you would have been in charge there for a long run, but unfortunately it wasn’t so. What really happened?
There’s nothing that happened, it’s football. In football you can sign a ten-year contract and within one year there’s a competition and things don’t go the way it was expected and the relationship ends. That’s the way of football.
Different people have different philosophies and expectations. It’s one thing to qualify for a competition, and another to understand that most of these players you are using for the competition don’t have that experience. A team being out of AFCON for 39 years is a very long time, and when we did qualify, we used players essentially playing only in the local league and not much exposure for a competition that fields the best of players. But the reality of the situation is that you have to respect the decision of the Federation and move on.
So I don’t see it as a question of what happened. No, a decision was taken. We had a very good relationship all through and today, I still have that kind of relationship with them…
Just what we would like to know is how deep is this good relationship? Is it something that can lead to a return to Tanzania someday?
There are different types of relationships – the personal and professional. I have personal friends there, and I also have professional relationships with a lot of people in Tanzania and they are very good.
People improve by learning. What can the Nigerian system learn from them especially concerning the league's marketing? We have seen their clubs now doing better in continental competitions; we see stadiums filled up when these teams are playing.
Oh yes, we can learn some things from them. We are not saying they are better than us in football in a holistic point of view, but still we can learn some things from them.
The point is how you can attract the consumers to your product, and the consumers this time are basically the fans. We have to learn how to attract these fans to the stadium in huge numbers to gain global attention. This will be very beautiful for our football.
When you go to Tanzania, you notice that more than half of the people who have filled up the stadium are wearing their club jerseys. This is a key instrument in any investment discussion. When we go to other football countries, we see the same pattern so I believe this is one aspect we can emulate for our clubs and country. We need to identify very well with our fans, and I believe this will go a very long way in marketing and investment.
You have had the chance to work in Nigeria, Egypt and Tanzania. If you are given the opportunity to go back to just of these places, where would you choose? Where did you have your best time?
I had my best time in all the places I worked. As a young coach, I started in Saudi Arabia. If I’m not mistaken, that should be about 2007, and from there I moved to Nigeria.
I moved from Nigeria to Sudan, and then to Tanzania, and from there to Egypt before Zambia. This experience is good for me. You can’t gain such experience from merely talking but doing the practical. Such moves and work gives me an insight on how each country’s football is being played and organized. I don’t have any regrets taking those bold steps because I gained a lot learning and building my capacity. I have gained the confidence to be able to go to any country to test my ability.
You played and coached in Nigeria, which gives you a good picture of the scene. I do think that our league can be better, even though there’s been some improvement. Don’t you think it can be better?
Yes, I believe so. I believe it can be better. Since I came back, as I am in Nigeria now, I have had the privilege to move around and watch the league matches. I am able to go to Aba, Port Harcourt and Uyo because of my location, and I can tell you that we have quite some good players but these players need to be coached well. That is one thing.
Here we judge people based on talent but football goes beyond just talent. Talent is good but the player in question needs to be properly coached to get the intelligence aspect of the game and of course the tactical work. We have to encourage these players by teaching them well in order to be able to develop them and believe in themselves. They need to feel a big part of the football project because it is really a project.
If they don’t see themselves that way, what can they then believe in? Where can they go? That they are playing here does not mean they are inferior and lesser. They just need to continue to grow and believe in themselves so that when they have the opportunity to move to Europe or higher levels, they will have the confidence, and are able to adapt easily to those challenges the higher level is bringing to them.
For those in the older generation, the Super Eagles we watched in your own time, and that is from about 1993 through 1998, 2000 or thereabout played the kind of football that gave fans confidence compared to what we have now. Is it that we now have all other African teams so well developed to compete against Nigeria, or it’s about the kind of talents available to the national team? Is it that the old set of your Eagles is like a rare group and such breed is no more available? What’s the difference?
When people ask me this question I always say this: we were just privileged to have had that kind talent packed together. It was also at a time when our football was rising and being recognized. There was so much commitment and so much determination.
The people who played before us set the pace, talking about the Odegbamis, the Chukwus, they did so well and left a high standard which we carried on. Talking about now, let’s note the fact that football has evolved a lot but everyone expects the people on the stage now to be exactly like us, but we must understand that every generation is different.
The question is: what can we bring out of this new generation of players even though we may not have the Okocha, we may not have the Finidi, Amuneke, Amokachi or Yekini (May his soul rest in peace), but these current players are good too. They have talent and we are beginning to see great talents in the national team. We must also begin to analyze things from a real point of view. We must try to find a balance because when you have a good balance in every department of your team is when you can really compete.
My prayer is that these new young ones will surpass what we were able to achieve. For me there is no need comparing both times.
You have been all over the place except Europe. If you get the opportunity to coach in Europe today, which country or league would you love to start? Which is your dream team to coach?
I don’t have any preference. We coaches don’t have preferences. You must have a professional mind to adapt and take on any challenge that comes up.
If you have opportunity to coach in Europe, it is like that big knock on your door. It is a welcome development, but every coach wants to start somewhere, where you can show who you are. And that’s what made me to be moving.
I could have decided to sit down in Nigeria, looking for an opportunity when I was set to start my adventure into coaching, but I took upon myself to keep moving and take fresh challenges. So it is not really about choosing but taking challenges. The important thing is to do the sporting analysis, or where you are venturing into checking if it is something or not real for you.
