Salisu Yusuf is the head coach of the Nigerian U-23 football team, popularly known as the Olympics Team.

Yusuf was the Chief Coach of the Nigerian Senior National Football Team, the Super Eagles, before his secondment to the Olympic Team.

The 61-year-old Zaria, Kaduna State, born coach has also tutored some elite Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) teams, like Kano Pillars and Rangers International of Enugu.

Wikipedia describes him as a “Nigerian professional manager and former player”. Professional manager, indeed!

The big news is that Salisu Yusuf’s U-23 Olympic Football Team has just crashed out of the fourth edition of the U-23 African Nations Qualifying Football Championship scheduled for Morocco later this year.

Mali, Gabon, Guinea, Ghana, Niger, the Congo Democratic Republic, the defending champions, Egypt, and host nation Morocco have all booked their tickets for the U-23 football championship.

The Nigerian team lost to Guinea 0-2 in Rabat, Morocco, after a goalless first leg at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja, thereby sealing Nigeria’s hope of participating in the 2024 FIFA World Cup in Paris.

The last time Nigeria won the African Championship was in 2015. Salisu Yusuf has a history of misconduct. In 2018, the tactician was recorded on camera accepting bribes from an undercover reporter.

He claimed that the payment was a gift and that it did not affect his selection of players for the national teams.

Despite his explanation, he received a one-year suspension and a fine of $5,000 from the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF.

In his current assignment as coach of the Olympic football team, he was also accused of inviting over-aged players.

Seven of the players on his team list were said to be overage and had decamped from the national team camp.

As a nation that celebrates mediocrity and rewards incompetent public officials, don’t be surprised if Salisu Yusuf is rewarded with another national assignment soon.

For a man reputed to have the proverbial “nine lives,” I really doubt if anyone will be shocked. The circus surely continues!

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Last Updated on March 29, 2023 8:06 pm by Sir Kris