Rivers United coach Okon rejoins Super Falcons technical crew twitter facebook reddit twitter facebook reddit

The Nigeria Football Federation has confirmed the return of coach Edwin Okon into the technical crew of the Nigeria women's senior national team, in line with their determination to rejig the team's technical group.

Okon - who is currently the head coach of Rivers United - led the Super Falcons to win the 2014 Africa Women's Cup of Nations. The following year, he led the African champions to the 2015 Fifa Women's World Cup in Canada.

There, his team crashed out of the preliminary round after failing to get past Sweden, the United States of America and Australia in Group D. Subsequently, he was asked to step aside with Christopher Danjuma brought in as a replacement.

He will now serve as the chief scout to Randy Waldrum's team, while coach Justin Madugu was designated the new first assistant coach, and Ann Chiejine will serve as a second assistant coach.

"I want to see a Super Falcons' squad that is feared by the opposition not only in Africa but all over the world," federation boss Amaju Pinnick said during the ceremony held at the NFF headquarters in Abuja.

"I trust that you two [Madugu and Okon] will bring some positive difference to our golden Super Falcons. I don't want to see our Falcons struggling against teams in Africa when we should actually be going toe-to-toe with the best teams in the world.

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"From now, we will scout for more players at home and abroad, particularly at home, and we will start organising camps for the Super Falcons on the home front even before the overseas-based players arrive. We must make the effort and the investment to have a stronger squad that will continue to do Nigeria proud."

Also present were NFF general secretary Dr Mohammed Sanusi, technical director Austin Eguavoen, director of communications Ademola Olajire, director of competitions Ruth David and head of international Dayo Enebi Achor.

Nigeria beat Ghana 2-1 on aggregate in the first round of the qualifiers for Awcon 2022. They will square up against Cote d'Ivoire in the next round of the qualifiers slated for next month.

The biennial showpiece billed for Morocco also doubles as the African qualifiers for the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup.

The top four teams will qualify for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, while two more teams will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.