Jose Peseiro fended off competition from former Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde and ex-PSG and France coach Laurent Blanc to take charge as the Super Eagles head coach, five months after the Nigeria Football Federation first approached the Portuguese,

The NFF Sunday announced the appointment of Peseiro as the new head coach of the senior men’s national team.

The NFF also announced that Finidi George will now be 1st assistant to Peseiro, with Salisu Yusuf will serve as the 2nd assistant as well as head coach of the CHAN and U-23 National Teams.

Usman Abdallah is 3rd assistant while Eboboritse Uwejamomere will be the match analyst and another former Nigeria international, Ike Shorounmu will be the goalkeepers’ trainer.

According to the federation, the appointment of the 62-year-old is with immediate effect, subject to the signing of agreed terms with the coach, who last managed Venezuela.

The former Sporting Lisbon manager replaces interim coach Austin Eguavoen, who was appointed following the sacking of Gernot Rohr last December.

This was after the NFF, in a statement from its media team titled ‘Communique of the meeting of NFF Executive Committee endorsed Peseiro following the termination of Rohr’s contract and had agreed certain terms with him.

Reports said both parties had agreed the gaffer would be in Cameroon for the 2021 AFCON as an “observer” with Eguavoen in charge on a temporary basis, before taking charge of the squad after the continental showpiece.

But sources said “higher forces” prevailed on the NFF not to hire the manager, and instead go for a home-bred coach, which led to the arrival of Eguavoen.

Eguavoen remained in charge of the Eagles after the AFCON, where the Eagles crashed out in the round of 16, before failing to qualify for the World Cup final last March.

Peseiro has had a very nomadic career, and a significant antecedent of the 62-year-old is his short stints at wherever he has managed.

His longest job was at Portuguese side Nacional, where he spent 1460 days. Since then, he has never spent up to two years on a job, and has coached teams in different parts of Europe – from the big boys to the peripheral ones.

He has spent time in Asia, South America, and the Super Eagles job will be his second job in Africa.

Peseiro kicked off his managerial career in 1992 at amateur Portuguese side União Desportiva de Santarém.

After two years on the job, he moved on to two other amateur sides within six years before moving to Nacional in 1999.

He spent four seasons at the Portuguese side, helping them to the Portuguese top-flight in his third season.

However, he left Nacional for Madrid in 2003 to serve as assistant coach to Carlos Queiroz while at Real Madrid.

Unfortunately for Peseiro, they were sent packing just after a year due to poor results.

After about a year without a job, Peseiro moved to Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. Afterwards, he was appointed at Greek side Panathinaikos.

At the time, Panathinaikos were one of the biggest teams in Greece. Although he finished second in the Greek league, he was sacked after Olympiakos humiliated Panathinaikos 4-0 in the Greek Cup final.

He then took up the job at Romanian side Rapid Bucharest in February 2009, initially signing a three-year contract, but he spent less than a year after his poor performance. Of his 18 games, he won eight, lost five, and drew five.

Nevertheless, just a month after he was relieved of his duties in Romania, he continued his nomadic career. This time he was appointed to coach the Saudi Arabia national team. Unfortunately, he could not guide the Green Falcons to the 2010 World Cup.

Eventually, he got the sack after losing his first game against Syria at the 2011 Asian Cup.

At the time, Syria were one of the poorest teams in Asia, while Saudi Arabia were one of the favourites after they finished as runners up in the previous Asian Cup in 2007.

Peseiro coached Saudi Arabia for 17 games. He won six of those, drew seven, and lost four.

Barely six months after his sack at Saudi Arabia, he returned to Portugal to coach Braga. At the time, Braga were perennial underachievers.

However, he guided them to their second-ever European competition. Still, he reached a mutual agreement to end his contract at the end of the 2012/13 season.

Peseiro then returned to Asia to coach Al Wadah. He spent about a year and a half at the UAE side, but it eventually ended after just over a year.

After that, he moved to Egypt in October 2015 to coach the most successful African team Al Ahly.

Hilariously, according to think marketing magazine, Peseiro’s Twitter handler received 6,471 tweets in less than 6 hours as Al-Ahly fans were not impressed.

He spent just 101 days on the job, as Al Ahly announced his sack, stating his inability to withstand pressure as the reason he was relieved of his duties.

Nonetheless, it looked like a calculated action as barely days after leaving Al Ahly, he joined FC Porto in January 2016.

He later revealed that he was in a hurry to leave Al Ahly for Porto, expressing his regret that he could not stay longer.

“I loved my time in Egypt, and I am happy that I got the chance to coach the African club of the century and one of the most remarkable clubs in the world, Al Ahly,” Peseiro told Kingfut.

“It wasn’t a long period, but that was for a reason like an offer from FC Porto.

“I hastened to leave Al Ahly. I should have continued for a longer period to devote my effort and my work to the team.”

However, he spent just six months on the Porto job, as after losing nine of his 22 games, he got sacked again.

Afterwards, he returned to Braga after losing his job at Porto. But after losing seven and drawing five of his 22 games, he got fired barely six months later.

The Portuguese manager did not stop moving, as just 16 days after he was fired at Braga, he joined Sharjah. But the 61-year-old had an abysmal run at the UAE side, winning only two of his 17 games, losing eight in the process.

Eventually, he was sacked again. Peseiro then returned to Portugal again in 2018 to coach Vitoria Guimaraes. But the 61-year-old left the side on mutual agreement.

After leaving Guimaraes, he returned to Sporting CP in mid-2018, but he was sacked after 123 days. Of his 14 games, he won nine, drew one, and lost four.

Then in February 2020, Peseiro spread his tentacles to South America. He got appointed as head coach of Venezuela.

However, his one and half year stay was a time to forget for both parties as he won just one of his ten games and lost six. Before he left, it was reported he was being owed his salaries for almost a year.

During his entire spell as a manager, Peseiro managed 627 matches, won 307, drew 148, and lost 172.