Franco-German Gernot Rohr has expressed satisfaction over FIFA’s verdict, following his battle with the Nigeria Football Federation, after he was sacked last December.
Former Super Eagles coach Rohr’s contract should have expired next December but an underwhelming performance by the national team had the ex-Bordeaux manager shown the exit door with just a month to the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
The aggrieved coach took the case to FIFA, demanding an additional £1m for breach of contract “without just cause,” despite an agreement to pay his salary until the end of his contract.
Football governing body FIFA on Monday ordered the NFF to pay Rohr $377,879.46 (N157m) after a tribunal decided his claim was “partially accepted insofar as it is admissible.”
The ruling by the FIFA players’ status chamber added that the NFF would be sanctioned if Rohr was not paid in full within 45 days.
Reacting to the decision, Amaju Pinnick told PUNCH Sports Extra, that the federation had paid Rohr some money before the termination of his contract.
“That’s not the true position,” Pinnick said of the ruling.
“FIFA declined most of his (Rohr’s) requests and said we should pay him $377,879.46 because we had paid him six months in lieu.
“We are still debating whether to go to CAS and tell them to convert that money we paid him to what FIFA wants us to pay him.”
However, speaking with PUNCH Sports Extra from his base in France, Rohr, Eagles’ longest-serving coach, expressed satisfaction with the FIFA ruling.
“I am very okay with this (FIFA’s) decision because NFF paid already the outstanding salaries until May,” Rohr confirmed.
“For me, the money is not the most important; it’s the breach of contract without just cause.”
Rohr has been without a job since parting ways with Nigeria five months ago.
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