Sunday Oliseh: Is This It?

Even if Sunday Oliseh is still among the top defensive midfielders in Africa, his coaching career hasn’t exactly been a success. The former Juventus player may have reached the end of his coaching career after his last position as head coach of German Regionalliga outfit SV Straelen ended with five defeats in five games.

Sunday Oliseh is still regarded as one of the greatest midfielders to represent the Super Eagles and one of the finest players to have emerged from Africa, but his coaching career hasn’t been as fruitful.

His most successful managerial tenure was with Dutch team Fortuna Sittard, which he practically guided from the Eerste Divisie to the Eredivisie before being fired due to a disagreement with the club’s administration.

Additionally, he has previously worked with the Super Eagles, where he was employed for less than a year before quitting.

Oliseh had been away from coaching for a while before taking the position of Straelen coach two months ago, but his brief spell at the club didn’t end well since he was unable to lead the team to any league victories.

After a challenging two months in charge of the German Regionalliga team, the former Super Eagles coach announced his resignation via phone call after five losses in five games.

After SV Straelen of the German Regionalliga lost for the fifth time in as many games, Oliseh made his resignation public.

Straelen was beaten by Fortuna Düsseldorf II 2-0, and Oliseh was dissatisfied with his team’s performance. The team’s performance in five league games—in which they scored just once and let up seven goals—led to the news of his resignation, much to the former Nigerian captain’s anticipated chagrin.

According to the athletic website of SV Straelen, Oliseh announced his resignation after the loss last Saturday. He is said to have called the club’s president, Hermann Tecklenburg, and informed him of his choice.

The team’s worst setback under Oliseh was reportedly a 4-3 defeat against St. Pauli of the Bundesliga 2.

During Sunday’s training session, Straelen’s Sporting Director, Kevin Wolze, who has taken over the team’s coaching responsibilities, made the news to the players.

“Sunday clearly had the impression that the team was no longer reachable. We must accept this choice. It’s pointless to attempt to convince him to go on,” Wolze stated.

Clearly, since then, things have changed. With five losses to start the year, we are presently last in the standings. The team is standing as well. We will take the time required to locate a suitable replacement,” he said.

Recall that Oliseh controversially announced his resignation from his position as Super Eagles job on Twitter, which the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) referred to as “good riddance to bad garbage.”

Ademola Olajire, the federation’s spokeswoman, had said back then: “Oliseh is gone, and we must go on. We say goodbye to bad garbage and good luck to good garbage. He is not the kind of guy we believed him to be.

He used YouTube to trash Nigerians. The minister begged the federation to let him stay on for our next two games. He didn’t even wait for those matches, as you can see.

Olajire said that since the coach had not yet submitted a letter to that effect, the NFF had only learned of the resignation via the media.

He had criticized Oliseh’s assertion that the NFF had broken the terms of his contract and challenged the coach to provide specifics on the provisions that had been broken.

Just over seven months after being hired, Oliseh announced his resignation.

The former captain of the national team said on Twitter that he resigned because the NFF was unable to uphold the conditions of his contract.

He wrote, “I quit as Super Eagles Chief Coach due to contract breaches, lack of support, unpaid salary, benefits to my players, assistant coaches, and myself.

Before announcing his resignation, Oliseh expressed gratitude to Nigerians for the chance to lead the national team.

“I feel lucky, privileged, and forever thankful for having the honor to represent this beautiful country of ours, Nigeria, as a player, captain, and coach.”

Oliseh was appointed by the NFF to considerable enthusiasm, but quickly began to clash with the federation’s officials over pay, match strategy, and outcomes.

The NFF did not respond favorably to his claim that he was entitled money; instead, they threatened to punish him.

Oliseh struggled to control the players. The nation’s most capped goalkeeper and team’s previous captain, Vincent Enyeama, abruptly resigned from the squad after an incident with the coach.

The Super Eagles’ appalling performance in the CHAN tournament in Rwanda, when the squad was ousted in the first round, apparently served as Oliseh’s last straw.

Following the team’s elimination and the ensuing worldwide criticism, Oliseh attacked his detractors in a YouTube video, calling them “crazy.”

His most recent resignation from his German team, however, is one too many and could have ended his managerial career.