Abuja (AFP) – Nigeria have shortlisted caretaker manager Salisu Yusuf among three candidates for the job as Super Eagles coach, the country’s football federation said on Friday.

Yusuf, former Togo coach Tom Saintfiet and Paul Le Guen, who has managed Cameroon, will be interviewed on Monday, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said.

NFF technical committee chairman Chris Green said: “We set a criteria with which we evaluated the nearly two dozen applications and then agreed on the three persons that we shortlisted.

“The committee will meet on Monday to interview the shortlisted candidates and immediately name the next Super Eagles head coach.”

The winning candidate will take charge of Nigeria and face the task of steering them through a tricky World Cup qualifying group that includes Algeria, Cameroon and Zambia.

Yusuf, 54, represented Nigeria at under-20 level and won cup titles with northeastern side El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri before coaching Kano Pillars, the Warriors and Enyimba.

He was assistant coach to Sunday Oliseh, Samson Siasia and Stephen Keshi, before taking over as caretaker manager for two friendlies against Mali and Luxembourg at the end of May.

Saintfiet, 43, is Belgian with a rich pedigree in African football, having coached the national sides of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Yemen, Malawi and most recently Togo. 

He has also worked with Qatar’s under-17s, Young Africans FC of Tanzania and South Africa’s Free State Stars FC.

Le Guen, 52, spent his playing career in France with Brest, Nantes and Paris Saint Germain, winning 52 caps for his country before coaching positions at Rennes, Lyon, PSG and Glasgow Rangers.

He steered Cameroon to the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa and has also managed Oman.