Trapattoni's Republic of Ireland came close to World Cup qualification

Giovanni Trapattoni has been added to the Nigerian Football Federation's list of preferred candidates to take over as national team coach.

The 70-year-old Italian is currently manager of the Republic of Ireland and is contracted to lead them through to the end of the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Nigeria fired coach Shaibu Amodu at the weekend and need a new boss for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.

Trapattoni joins a list of six other coaches being targeted by Nigeria.

The others are Egypt coach Hassan Shehata, Russia boss Guus Hiddink, Bayern Munich coach Louis Van Gaal, former Senegal boss Bruno Metsu, ex-Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic and one-time England caretaker manager Peter Taylor.

The NFF has pledged to reach a decision by the end of February.

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Trapattoni's Republic drew 1-1 with Nigeria in a friendly match at Fulham's Craven Cottage ground in May 2009.

They missed out on World Cup qualification after a controversial play-off against France in which Thierry Henry's handball allowed his team to level on the night and progress on aggregate.

Trapattoni is also a former coach of the Italian national team, and enjoyed huge success at club level at Juventus, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Benfica.

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