Australia search for football coach successor

Football Federation Australia said on Tuesday it had begun a world-wide search for a new national coach following the announced departure of Pim Verbeek.

Dutchman Verbeek will finish his 30-month contract after taking the Socceroos to the World Cup finals in South Africa in June, but the FFA’s first task will be to find a new coach for the Asian Cup in Qatar next January.

FFA chief executive Ben Buckley has confirmed that Verbeek will be consulted on his successor, heightening speculation that the organisation will continue with its Dutch coaching philosophy, begun in 2005 with the appointment of Guus Hiddink.

“We’ve had a good success rate with the Dutch coaching fraternity, so we have to keep that in mind,” Buckley told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“We respect (Verbeek’s) views, of course we will get his views, we would be foolish not to,” he said.

With 15 wins in 27 matches, World Cup and Asian Cup qualification and some outstanding results against the Netherlands, Ghana and Ireland on his watch, the Dutchman will be a tough act to follow.

Verbeek’s 30-month package was a reported three million dollars (2.7 million US), which newspapers said put him among the top-20 highest-paid coaches in world football.

His decision not to renew his contract has triggered an early rush of interest from potential coaching candidates.

“It’s true, we’ve had a few CVs sent in to the office,” Buckley told the Herald.

Buckley said the FFA “did not have a fixed position” on whether to appoint a new coach before or after the World Cup in June.

But reports said it was likely that an appointment would not be finalised until Verbeek had completed his task in South Africa and where a number of high-profile candidates were expected to be on the market after the World Cup.

Buckley said the FFA preferred to avoid a caretaker coaching scenario for the 2011 Asian Cup, but conceded he couldn’t rule it out.

Reports said the Australian Institute of Sport head coach, Dutchman Jan Versleijen, had been sounded out just in case a new man was not appointed by the time of the Asian Cup.