The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Ibrahim Gusau, has revealed that the tax issue forced the federation’s agreement with coach Bruno Labbadia to fail.
Recall that the NFF announced that Bruno Labbadia would take charge of the Super Eagles of Nigeria from September 2, 2024.
However, the agreement faced a setback over German tax authorities’ stringent regulations, leading to the cancellation of the deal.
The German publication Kicker disclosed that the 58-year-old coach declined the position due to the tax issue.
Ibrahim Gusau told NFF.com on Friday, August 30, that the tax matter became a significant obstacle in finalizing the agreement.
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He revealed that the NFF was unwilling to cover the additional tax percentage on Labbadia’s salary, which could amount to 32% to 40%, as demanded by German tax authorities.
The NFF president explained: “We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF would agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities. It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32% to 40% of his salary, after paying the agreed monthly wage.
“The NFF and Mr Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we announced that he would become the Head Coach of the Super Eagles.
The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up.
We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax amount as well. We simply cannot do that.”
