——- As many still regard him as one of the country’s most successful youth team coaches.

Former Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia is officially free to return to the dugout after completing a five-year ban imposed by FIFA, marking a dramatic turnaround from an initial lifetime suspension.

In 2019, FIFA’s Ethics Committee handed Siasia a lifetime ban and a $50,000 fine for allegedly accepting bribes linked to match manipulation.

His name surfaced during a global investigation into convicted Singaporean match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal, whose network had implicated several football officials across Africa.

Siasia became the third African football figure sanctioned in connection with Perumal, alongside Sierra Leone’s Abu Bakarr Kabba and Botswana’s Mooketsi Kgotlele.

However, the former Nigerian international fought back. In a significant victory, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled that FIFA’s evidence did not sufficiently justify a lifetime penalty. The court reduced the punishment to a five year ban, which expired at the end of August 2024.

With the ban now behind him, the 1994 AFCON winner and Olympic medal winning coach is poised for a long awaited return to football,as his comeback is expected to spark discussions across Nigeria’s sports landscape.