Éric Sékou Chelle (born 11 November 1977) is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager, head coach of the

Nigeria national football team The Nigeria national football team represents Nigeria in Men's international Association football, football. Governed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), they are three-time Africa Cup of Nations (Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON) winners, w ...

and a former player who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Born in Ivory Coast to a French father and a Malian mother, he made five appearances for the Mali national team.

Playing career

Chelle holds French nationality and spent his whole career in France, appearing for

Martigues Martigues ( in classical norm, ''Lou Martegue'' in Mistralian norm) is a commune northwest of Marseille. It is part of the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the eastern end of the Canal de Caronte. A ...

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

Istres Istres (; Occitan: Istre) is a commune in southern France, some 60 km (38 mi) northwest of Marseille. It is in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture. Location I ...

, and

Chamois Niortais Chamois Niortais Football Club (; often referred to as ''Les Chamois'', Chamois Niortais, or simply Niort) are a French association football club based in the commune of Niort, in the Deux-Sèvres department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwest ...

. At international level, he represented

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Coaching career

In May 2021 was appointed head coach of

US Boulogne Union Sportive de Boulogne-sur-Mer Côte d'Opale (commonly referred to as US Boulogne, USBCO or frequently, simply Boulogne) is a French association football club based in the commune of Boulogne-sur-Mer. The club was founded in 1898 and cur ...

. He was dismissed by Boulogne on 11 December 2021, after the club gained three points in preceding ten games. In 2022, Chelle was appointed manager of Mali. He was dismissed on 13 June 2024. On 9 October 2024, Éric Chelle became the coach of

MC Oran (), known as , commonly referred to as MC Oran for short, is an Algerian professional Association football, football club based in Oran. Founded on 1 January 1917, the club was known as Mouloudia Chaâbia Ouahrania from 1971 to 1977, Mouloudia P ...

in the Algerian Ligue 1 Pro. On 7 January 2025, Chelle was announced by the

Nigeria Football Federation The Nigeria Football Federation (known as Nigeria Football Association until 2008) is Nigeria's association football, football sports governing body, governing body. It was formally launched in 1945 and formed the first Nigerian national football ...

as the head coach of the Nigeria Senior Football National Team, the Super Eagles.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Nigeria *

Unity Cup The Unity Cup is an international football tournament held in London. Nigeria are the defending champions after a penalty shootout win against Jamaica. The competitors are countries with large diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is ...

**Champions (1):

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chelle, Eric 1977 births Living people Footballers from Abidjan Malian men's footballers Mali men's international footballers French men's footballers Ivorian men's footballers Malian people of French descent French sportspeople of Malian descent Ivorian people of Malian descent Ivorian people of French descent Men's association football central defenders FC Martigues players Valenciennes FC players RC Lens players Istres FC players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players US Boulogne managers Mali national football team managers MC Oran managers 2023 Africa Cup of Nations managers Nigeria national football team managers