The technical director of the Nigeria Football Federation, Augustine Eguavoen, has urged Nigerians to keep the noise away from Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle.

Chelle and his Super Eagles stars are in a crucial moment as they prepare for the 2026 FIFA World Cup playoff against the Panthers of Gabon next month.

Nigeria will face Gabon at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco, on November 13 for a chance to progress to the African playoff final, where they will face one of Cameroon or DR Congo.

There have been a lot of discussions around the team going into the match, particularly as it comes before the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Rumours in the Nigerian media claim that Chelle will be sacked if Nigeria fails to win the African playoff ticket and will not lead the team to AFCON 2025.

NFF President Ibrahim Gusau debunked this, claiming the Malian manager has a two-year contract until January 2027 and will remain in charge of the team.

Chelle, who granted an interview recently, faced questions about happenings in the team, particularly the team's unity after Stanley Nwabali's antics in October.

These and many others are some of the off-field issues the manager has to deal with heading into the decisive weeks ahead.

Eguavoen drums support for Chelle

NFF’s technical director, Augustine Eguavoen, has assessed Eric Chelle’s performance so far as Super Eagles head coach and admitted that he has been impressed.

“In one word, yes. Yes, that's one word, yes. Are you not impressed?” he said, as quoted by Soccernet.

The former Super Eagles boss rallied Nigerians to support Chelle and his team at this crucial stage rather than distract them.

“I won't go into that. He has the job he's doing right now. Let us focus. Let us not be distracted. Let us not make him uncomfortable,” Eguavoen continued.

“We have something in front of us: World Cup playoffs and AFCON. Let us focus on that. You are just saying Nigerians are saying this and that. I don't think that's true. I don't think anything like that is on the pipeline. Let us let him focus, please.”

The former KAA Gent star, who has managed the team four times, was rumoured to be NFF’s choice to lead the team to AFCON and would be assisted by Ladan Bosso.

Eguavoen denied these reports in an official statement published by the NFF, claiming there was no discussion and that he is fully behind Chelle.