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National Football Chiefs Seek New Foreign Coach

Chinese football officials have decided to seek a high-profile overseas coach to replace Bora Milutinovic as manager of the misfiring national team, Xinhua News Agency reported. Delegates from local football associations meeting in Beijing decided that a well-qualified foreigner would be what officials termed as "one of the shortcuts for China to qualify for 2006 World Cup Finals".

Local coaches were "still not ready to take the daunting challenge" of trying to lead the nation into a second World Cup, the officials agreed. Any candidate would have to be "quite influential" and already know something about the Chinese game. No names have yet been officially suggested as a replacement for Milutinovic, the vastly experienced Yugoslav coach who stepped down in June after China exited in the first round at their World Cup debut in South Korea.