Former Nigerian player and the first Nigerian coach to lead a national team to World Cup glory, Sebastian Broderick-Imasuen, has passed away at the age of 85.
He died at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital after a long battle with stroke, reports say.
This comes after Chuka Imasuen, the son of the late coach, had last year made a passionate appeal for support when he revealed his father had a stroke and diabetes, which the family had spent millions on.
Broderick-Imasuen guided the Golden Eaglets to a historic victory at the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Cup in China – Nigeria’s first-ever World Cup title at any level.
Nicknamed Nigeria’s first World Cup-winning coach, he died in the early hours of Wednesday after battling illness for some time.
The news was confirmed by Harrison Jalla, chairman of the Professional Footballers Association of Nigeria (PFAN) Task Force, in a statement on WhatsApp.
“Veteran Coach Sebastian Brodericks Imaseun, who won Nigeria’s first World Cup at the under-17 level, is no more,” Jalla said.
The coach, who has been bedridden for a long time, died in the early hours of this morning, according to family sources.”
He represented Nigeria as a player at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and famously scored a winning free-kick in the 1972 Challenge Cup for Bendel Insurance.
His coaching career saw him lead the Golden Eaglets to two further World Cup appearances, reaching the final in 1987 before falling to the Soviet Union on penalties.
He also served as an assistant coach to Clemens Westerhof during the Super Eagles’ golden era in the 1990s.
