Former Germany boss Berti Vogts has agreed to coach Nigeria, according to Sani Lulu, the chairman of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA).

Lulu said the 60-year-old Vogts has signed an agreement to coach the Super Eagles, as the country's team is called.

"Vogts has signed an agreement with the NFA to coach our national team," Lulu disclosed from London, where top officials have been interviewing several other foreign coaches. "The actual contract signing ceremony will take place in Nigeria before the end of this month."

Lulu said the NFA chose Vogts as he was best suited for the job. "We all found him to be very sincere and focused. He is a complete gentleman who believes in the future of Nigeria soccer and he is willing to bring his experience to bear on our soccer," he said.

"Besides working with the Super Eagles, he is equally committed to developing soccer at the grassroots and updating our local coaches."

German's success falters in Scotland

Vogts played 96 times for West Germany, was a World Cup winner in 1974 and was in charge of the national side between 1990 and 1998, winning the European Championships in 1996.

After short coaching spells at Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga and in Kuwait he coached the Scottish national side with little success for two-and-a-half-years until November 2004.

The immediate focus of the new coach is qualification for the 2008 African Nations Cup in Ghana.

He will also be expected to lay a solid foundation for Nigeria's qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after the Eagles failed to reach the last World Cup in Germany.

Former international defender Austin Equavoen, who has been caretaker boss since June 2005, is expected to assist the new foreign coach.

Drawn-out search for coach at an end

It has been a long drawn chase by Nigeria for an expatriate coach since Dutchman Jo Bonfrere was dismissed in April 2001. In the past six years, money problems at the NFA and government interference have hampered the drive to hire a foreign coach.

Phillipe Troussier, who qualified Nigeria for the 1998 World Cup in France, declined the job in July 2005 after insisting that the Eagles did not stand a chance of overtaking group leaders Angola in the qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup.

Former England World Cup star Bryan Robson was also appointed coach by the NFA on the eve of the 2004 African Nations Cup in Tunisia only for the country's sports ministry to veto the appointment.

Foreign coach good omen for Eagles

Nigeria's biggest glories in international football have all been achieved under foreign coaches.

Bonfrere was in charge when the country became the first African team to win Olympic soccer gold in 1996 while compatriot Clemens Westerhof led the Eagles to a second Nations Cup triumph in Tunisia in 1994.

Nigeria first won the Nations Cup on home soil in 1980 under Brazilian coach Otto Gloria.