Former Manchester City and England manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson has revealed why he didn’t take the Super Eagles of Nigeria to the World Cup in 2010.

The 74-year-old was sacked as Mexico coach in 2009, after picking up just a win in three World Cup qualifying games. He was criticised for not being able to communicate his strategy to the players and never really understanding Mexican football.

Having qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the legendary Swedish manager was contacted by the Nigeria Football Association to come fill the vacant position.

Eriksson revealed in his book ‘My Story Sven’ that he was interviewed by a panel of officials, who asked “stupid” questions, for the vacant Super Eagles post at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja.

“After the meeting (interview), an agent whom Athole (Eriksson’s agent) worked with locally explained that half of my salary would be deposited in a special bank account,” alleges Eriksson. It was not too hard to figure out that the special account would involve someone else taking a piece of my pie if I got the job.”

“There was no way I would agree to that. I never received an offer of a contract, and it was just as well.”

The three-time African champions coached by Lars Lagerback, crashed out of the tournament at the group stage losing two matches and drawing one.

Advertisement