Nigeria's football federation has fired national coach Stephen Keshi amid charges he applied for a job with the Ivory Coast team.
Saturday night's decision ends a turbulent relationship with the former national team captain who guided Nigeria's Super Eagles to Africa Cup of Nations glory in 2013 in South Africa.
The Nigeria Football Federation's executive committee said it found Keshi to "lack the required commitment."
Keshi last month told a disciplinary hearing that his name was submitted for the Ivory Coast coaching job by an unidentified European agent who did not consult him.
Keshi, 53, has threatened to resign in the past and was fired in 2014 and reinstated only after a presidential intervention. He had returned on a match-by-match deal and signed a new two-year contract just three months ago.
His spokesman, Emmanuel Ado, said they would not comment immediately. But he confirmed that they had received the firing notice and that he had read the letter to Keshi, who he said is on a month's vacation with his family in San Francisco.
The federation said Keshi will be temporarily replaced by assistant coach Salisu Yusuf and the coach of the technical directorate, Shuaibu Amodu, whom it has fired twice in the past.
This will be Amodu's fifth stint at the helm. He first managed the Eagles from 1994 to 1997, was reappointed in 2001 and dismissed in 2002 despite leading Nigeria to third place in the African Cup Nations Cup in Mali. He was made manager in 2008 and sacked again in 2010 after the team's third-place finish at Angola's hosting of the African tournament.
Soccer management in Nigeria has long been messy. FIFA in 2010 threatened to suspend the West African nation over alleged government interference in elections to the federation's executive committee.
The Nigeria Football Federation's executive committee said it found Keshi to "lack the required commitment."
Keshi last month told a disciplinary hearing that his name was submitted for the Ivory Coast coaching job by an unidentified European agent who did not consult him.
His spokesman, Emmanuel Ado, said they would not comment immediately. But he confirmed that they had received the firing notice and that he had read the letter to Keshi, who he said is on a month's vacation with his family in San Francisco.
The federation said Keshi will be temporarily replaced by assistant coach Salisu Yusuf and the coach of the technical directorate, Shuaibu Amodu, whom it has fired twice in the past.
This will be Amodu's fifth stint at the helm. He first managed the Eagles from 1994 to 1997, was reappointed in 2001 and dismissed in 2002 despite leading Nigeria to third place in the African Cup Nations Cup in Mali. He was made manager in 2008 and sacked again in 2010 after the team's third-place finish at Angola's hosting of the African tournament.
Soccer management in Nigeria has long been messy. FIFA in 2010 threatened to suspend the West African nation over alleged government interference in elections to the federation's executive committee.
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