Former England managers Sven-Goran Eriksson and Glenn Hoddle are on
a five-man shortlist to be the new coach of Nigeria.
Hoddle managed England at the 1998 World Cup, where they
reached the last 16 before being knocked out on penalties by
Argentina, who are Nigeria's first opponents at the 2010 World Cup.
Eriksson led England at the 2002 and 2006 finals, and was
most recently employed as director of football at Notts County.
Nigeria Football Federation spokesman Ademola Olajire said:
"We have five candidates and Glenn Hoddle is one of them. He took
his turn (for interview) on Wednesday and we will make a decision
on Friday evening."
Olajire confirmed Eriksson among the names of the four other
candidates.
Nigeria have been without a coach since Shaibu Amodu was
sacked shortly after his side's disappointing African Nations Cup
campaign.
Olajire insisted the circumstances of Hoddle's dismissal from
the England job did not concern the NFF.
Hoddle was sacked after comments he made about disabled
people in a newspaper interview.
Olajire added: "Coaches are hired and fired at any time, it
depends from one field to another, one society to another. We
cannot judge people's competence against different professional
environments.
"He took England to the World Cup round of 16 in 1998 and he
was a very good player."
Bruno Metsu, the French coach who took Senegal to the World
Cup quarter-finals in 2002, is also on the NFF's list along with
former Sweden coach Lars Lagerback and former Ghana boss Ratomir
Dujkovic, who took the Black Stars to the last 16 in 2006.
The decision of the NFF board is expected to be announced at
6pm GMT on Friday evening.
The Super Eagles have been without a coach since Shaibu Amodu
was sacked following the team's third-placed finish at the African
Nations Cup.
Eriksson's representative Athole Still confirmed the Swede
had met with the NFF on Thursday and that they plan to stay in
Nigeria until Saturday morning.
"We've looked around and studied all the potential of
Nigeria," Still said.
"Sven met with the federation today. It was a general
discussion rather than an interview I would say. We will see what
happens."
Still said the NFF have not discussed the terms they are
prepared to offer to the new coach, so it is unclear whether they
are just looking for someone to lead the team in South Africa or
for a more long-term appointment.
Eriksson, who coached Mexico during the qualifying stages of
the 2010 World Cup, would relish a third crack at the World Cup
after reaching the quarter-finals twice with England.
Still added: "The clear big attraction at this present moment
is the World Cup, but also, if it went beyond that, there is the
attraction of a country that has a population of almost 150 million
and has hundreds of thousands of young players."
