Shuaibu Amodu (18 April 1958 – 10 June 2016) was a Nigerian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach who played as a forward.

Playing career

Amodu, a striker, played for Dumez and

Niger Tornadoes Niger Tornadoes Football Club is a soccer club based in Minna, Nigeria. They play in the Nigerian Professional Football League. Their home stadium is Bako Kontagora Stadium. They have also played their home games at Confluence Stadium in Lok ...

. His playing career ended after he broke his leg.

Coaching career

Amodu managed a number of club sides in Nigeria, such as Enyimba FC, BCC Lions,

El-Kanemi Warriors El-Kanemi Warriors Football Club is a football team based in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Their play ground is the El-Kanemi Stadium, Maiduguri. The club is on a positive rebound having gained promotion to the 2024–25 Nigeria Premier Footb ...

and Shooting Stars; he also managed

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club, referred to as simply Pirates, is a South African professional football club based in Orlando, Soweto that plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as Betway Premiership. The team plays i ...

in South Africa. Amodu first managed the Nigeria national team from April 2001 to February 2002. He later stated that his dismissal was "unfair", and also said that, a month later, he had yet to receive a formal letter confirming his dismissal. After his dismissal with the National team, He was appointed to take over from the newly sacked Enyimba's Coach Yugoslav Kostadin Papic in April 2002. He was re-appointed manager in April 2008. In December 2009 the

Nigeria Football Federation The Nigeria Football Federation (known as Nigeria Football Association until 2008) is Nigeria's association football, football sports governing body, governing body. It was formally launched in 1945 and formed the first Nigerian national football ...

stated that Amodu was under pressure, and in January 2010 there was speculation about his future. He was sacked in February 2010. Prior to his appointment as the technical director of Nigeria's national teams in May 2013. Amodu was unbeaten in three successful World Cup elimination series without losing a single match in 1998 (started the campaign), 2002 (finished the campaign), and 2010 (both started and completed the campaign), but never led the team to the World Cup. He was re-appointed Nigeria manager in October 2014, replacing

Stephen Keshi Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (23 January 1962 – 7 June 2016) was a Nigerian association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. During his playing career, Keshi played as a defender (association football), defender ...

. It was his fifth spell in charge of the country. Keshi returned to the role two weeks later but was fired in July 2015 and Amodu took over the Eagles again temporarily. He was replaced by

Sunday Oliseh Sunday Ogochukwu Oliseh (born 14 September 1974) is a Nigerian football manager and former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Physical yet technically gifted, he played for top European clubs including Ajax, Borussia Dortmund and J ...

on a permanent basis later that month.

Later life and death

Amodu died on 10 June 2016, three days after the death of

. He was buried in an Islamic ceremony in his hometown of Okpella.

References

1958 births 2016 deaths Nigerian Muslims Nigerian men's footballers Niger Tornadoes F.C. players Men's association football forwards Nigerian football managers El-Kanemi Warriors F.C. managers Orlando Pirates F.C. managers Nigeria national football team managers Nigerian expatriate football managers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate soccer managers in South Africa 2002 African Cup of Nations managers 2010 Africa Cup of Nations managers BCC Lions F.C. managers Shooting Stars S.C. managers Enyimba F.C. managers 20th-century Nigerian sportsmen {{Nigeria-footy-forward-stub