{"id":27351,"date":"2026-02-27T13:36:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers-qa\/channelafrica\/news\/lawal-urges-clarity-over-super-eagles-coachs-future\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:36:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T11:36:19","slug":"lawal-urges-clarity-over-super-eagles-coachs-future","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/lawal-urges-clarity-over-super-eagles-coachs-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawal urges clarity over Super Eagles coach\u2019s future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Super Eagles midfielder Garba Lawal has weighed in on the debate surrounding the future of national team head coach Eric Sekou Chelle, saying both sides should consider parting ways if they cannot reach common ground.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speculation over Chelle\u2019s position has intensified amid reports of disagreements between the coach and the Nigeria Football Federation. However, Lawal said he has not received any official communication from the federation regarding the alleged demands attributed to the Franco-Malian tactician.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While declining to comment on unverified claims, the former international stressed that contractual obligations must be honoured, particularly when a technical project is still in progress.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there is a contract in place, it must be respected,\u201d Lawal indicated, adding that stability remains crucial for long-term planning within the national team set-up.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He also played down the significance of Nigeria\u2019s recent campaign at the Africa Cup of Nations, where the Super Eagles reached the semi-finals. According to Lawal, such performances are consistent with the country\u2019s pedigree and should not be treated as extraordinary achievements.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Super Eagles are historically one of Africa\u2019s most successful sides, and Lawal suggested that expectations must remain aligned with that standard.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15438,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-27351","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Former Super Eagles midfielder Garba Lawal has weighed in on the debate surrounding the future of national team head coach Eric Sekou Chelle","published_date":"2026-02-27 15:06:15","news_description":"Former Super Eagles midfielder Garba Lawal has weighed in on the debate surrounding the future of national team head coach Eric Sekou Chelle","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/27351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=27351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}