The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have announced the appointments of AITEO Cup finalists Abdu Maikaba and Abubakar Bala as coaches of the National Under-17 team for men.
The newly constituted technical crew of the Golden Eaglets will be headed by the highly respected Maikaba who led Akwa United to their second Cup triumph in three years in the final in Lagos last month.
Maikaba’s first assistant in charge of the five-time World Champions is his opponent in the October 15 AITEO Cup final, Abubakar Bala who manages Nigeria Professional Football League side, Niger Tornadoes.
The duo will work together with Bunmi Haruna who is the second assistant coach and Olatunji Baruwa who will serve as Goalkeepers’ trainer.
In the meantime, there was no change in the leadership of the women’s national under-17 team, the Flamingoes as the Federation reappointed Bala Nikyu to take charge of the side.
Nikyu who recently worked with NPFL sides Katsina United and Wikki Tourists has been in charge of the Flamingoes for the past two FIFA World Cup editions (in 2016 and 2014) and will be hoping to make it three in a row when the team start their qualification campaign against Ethiopia next month.
Nikyu’s assistants include former Nigerian international Toyin Ayinla who is the First Assistant Coach; Ajuma Peter Otache who is the Second Assistant Coach and; Christian Obi who is the Goalkeepers’ Trainer.
