Super Eagles head coach Eric Chelle has begun putting his coaching structure in place for the Olympic Eagles after appointing Bright Osehai Ozebagbe and Deniran Ortega as his assistants.
Chelle, who doubles as coach of Nigeria’s senior national team and the Olympic Eagles, has turned his attention to the task of guiding the country back to the men’s Olympic football tournament after Nigeria missed the last two editions.
The appointments were disclosed on Tuesday by Kola Daniel, Special Assistant on Media to the Director-General of the National Sports Commission.
Chelle is understood to have already briefed the NSC leadership on his plans for the Olympic Eagles, with preparations expected to begin ahead of the qualifying campaign scheduled for November 2026.
The coach expressed his satisfaction with the appointments, describing Ozebagbe and Ortega as two of the country’s brightest young coaches.
“Chelle who doubles as the gaffer of the Olympic Eagles, says Ortega and Bright are some of the brightest young coaches in Nigeria with very impressive profiles and he is very happy to work with them.”
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Ozebagbe brings recent Nigerian club experience to the setup. He is currently the Technical Adviser of Ikorodu City, who narrowly missed out on a continental ticket on the final day of last season.
His coaching background also includes spells with Union Bank, Staruf FC Lagos, Pepsi Academy and Barcelona Academy Lagos. He was head coach of Bulmaro FC during the 2020-21 season.
In October 2022, Ikorodu City appointed Ozebagbe as chief coach alongside Sodiq Dabiri. At the time, the club noted that he held a CAF C licence and had worked as an elite coach and coordinator at Barcelona Academy Lagos.
Ortega, meanwhile, brings international exposure and experience within Nigeria’s youth national-team structure.
He is a UEFA licensed coach who was trained by the Scottish Football Association and has worked in both Scotland and Nigeria.
His coaching career includes a spell with Edinburgh City, where he was part of the staff that won the Lowland League title in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons before the club moved into the Scottish Professional Football League.
He later joined Enyimba as an assistant coach in 2017 and has also been involved with Nigeria’s Flying Eagles.
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The Nigeria Football Federation confirmed Ortega in May 2026 as first assistant to Abdu Maikaba with the U20 team.
The appointments are at a crucial time for Nigeria’s Olympic football, the country last featured in the men’s Olympic football tournament at Rio 2016, where the team won bronze. Nigeria had previously won gold at Atlanta 1996 and silver at Beijing 2008.
The subsequent failures to qualify for Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 have left the country facing an eight-year wait for another appearance at the Games.
Nigeria’s latest Olympic qualifying disappointment came in March 2023, when the Olympic Eagles were eliminated by Guinea in the final qualifying round for the 2023 U23 Africa Cup of Nations.
After a goalless first leg in Abuja, Nigeria lost the return fixture 2-0 in Rabat, with Algassime Bah and Alseny Soumah scoring for Guinea.
Chelle’s immediate challenge is therefore to build a squad capable of navigating the next qualifying campaign and securing Nigeria’s return to the Olympic stage.
The Olympic Eagles are expected to open camp in Abuja soon, with their qualifying fixtures scheduled to begin in November 2026. The Nigerian team will face either DR Congo or Mauritania in the qualifying race.
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The NSC, which supervises Nigeria’s Olympic teams, has set an ambitious target beyond qualification, with the body also aiming for the country’s football teams to secure podium finishes at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
Chelle is also expected to strengthen his technical setup further, with plans for a foreign scout and another foreign assistant to join the U23 structure.
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