Nigeria have handed Eric Sekou Chelle a new contract as Super Eagles head coach and given him oversight of the Olympic Eagles, the country's under-23 national team, the National Sports Commission announced Tuesday.
The agreement was reached at a meeting between the NSC and the Nigeria Football Federation at the Commission's headquarters in Abuja.
"One of the major outcomes of the meeting was the decision to extend the contract of Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle, alongside an improved remuneration package," said the NSC in a statement.
Under the new terms, not only will Chelle receive an improved remuneration package, the NSC also agreed to cover the salaries of his assistant coaches, a cost Chelle had previously paid from his own earnings.
Neither the NSC nor the Nigeria Football Federation disclosed the new financial terms but local media have reported that his monthly salary will rise from $45,000 to $100,000.
"We are going to increase his money and also take care of his assistants who are helping him. And there are other benchmarks that we have put on the table, and I'm sure the coach will be very excited about it," NSC chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko said.
Chelle was appointed Super Eagles head coach in January 2025, signing a two-year deal with the specific target of qualifying Nigeria for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. He succeeded Augustine Eguavoen, who served as interim coach following Finidi George's resignation. Chelle previously coached MC Oran of Algeria and led Mali's national team from 2022 to 2024.
Although he did not meet his primary mandate of qualifying for the World Cup after Nigeria lost the CAF World Cup playoff final to Democratic Republic of Congo on penalties, the NFF kept him in charge for the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco the following month, when Nigeria finished third, beating Egypt on penalties after a semifinal defeat to host nation Morocco, also on penalties.
Negotiations over a new deal stretched across several months. Chelle submitted a 19-point proposal to the NFF in January, seeking a monthly package of $130,000 to cover his salary and that of his technical staff.
The NFF reportedly offered a figure closer to $100,000. NFF president Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusa said in January that the federation saw no need to rush the talks, citing the year remaining on Chelle's contract. The impasse drew reported interest from Tunisia, Angola and Guinea, along with links to French Ligue 1 clubs Marseille and Nantes.
The contract extension follows a strong start to Chelle's tenure and ends months of uncertainty over his long-term future.
Since taking charge, he has led the Super Eagles to an impressive record of 16 wins, nine draws and two losses from 27 senior international matches. Nigeria remain unbeaten in regulation time in competitive fixtures under Chelle, with the team's only regulation-time defeats coming in a pre-AFCON friendly against Egypt in December 2025 and pre-World Cup friendly against Portugal last month.
Those results include reviving Nigeria's World Cup hopes by going unbeaten through the remainder of the qualification campaign before reaching the continental playoffs, where the Super Eagles were eventually eliminated by DR Congo in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw.
Nigeria also won back-to-back Unity Cup titles in 2025 and 2026 and finished third at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after defeating Egypt on penalties in the bronze-medal match, scoring a tournament-high 14 goals.
Dikko, speaking after Tuesday's meeting, confirmed that the federation and the coach had also agreed that Chelle would take charge of the under-23 team because of a pool of young players approaching senior-team age, and described the appointment as a long-term development project rather than an added burden on the coach.
"We have also discussed how we can build for the future. In that aspect, we also agree with the coach and the NFF that the coach should take care of the U-23 national team," Dikko said.
"The objective is not to give the coach more work but to start building for the future."
Chelle's expanded brief includes preparing Nigeria to qualify for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Nigeria have not appeared at the men's Olympic football tournament since winning bronze at Rio de Janeiro in 2016. The Olympic Eagles previously won gold at Atlanta 1996 and silver at Beijing 2008, making Nigeria the first African team to complete the set of Olympic medals.