Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Muscat: While the speculation is rife over who will be taking over as Oman football team coach, a post lying vacant since Oman Football Association (OFA) terminated Frenchman Paul Le Guen’s contract back in November last, it is learnt the Sultanate’s football governing body is reviewing as many seven applications.
The OFA sources confirmed that the number of applicants is seven, including two Omanis, but refused to reveal the names of the prospective coaches.
When contacted by Times Sport, Ahmed Al Mayassi, the head of the committee formed to overlook coach recruitment process, confirmed the total number of applicants.
“It’s seven coaches (who applied for the job),” he said while refusing to go into the details.
When persuaded, he also revealed that the list includes two Omanis.
“There are two Omanis and the rest are Europeans,” he added.
Al Mayyasi at the same time refused to neither reveal the names nor the exact date of announcement.
One source informed that OFA is likely to make the announcement on Tuesday, the day the ongoing training and conditioning camp for 22 mostly home-based players concludes at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
Another source, however, said ‘it could be on January 16’.
The latter date is most likely to be correct if one goes by the speculation that Hamad Al Azzani, the former Oman Olympic (U-23) team coach who also served as the senior national team on stop gap arrangement in the past, is front-runner for the post.
Interestingly, the OFA has sent Hamad Al Azzani as well as Oman U-17 team coach Yacoub Al Sabahi to Qatar for a nine-day stint with Germany’s Bayern Munich, who are currently undergoing winter training camp in Doha.
And that stint will end on January 14, with the duo scheduled to return to Muscat the following day.
Asked if the OFA will reveal the new coach’s name on January 16, Al Mayyasi said: “All I can say is the OFA board will finalise the name... and they will reveal the name. It may be or may not be on January 16.”
On the eve of the ongoing national team training camp, which started on January 4, OFA chief Sayyid Khalid Al Busaidi informed Times Sport: “The OFA board has completed the analysis of the candidates for the post of national team coach. The board will take a necessary decision in this regard during the next week.”
With just two matches remaining in Oman’s World Cup Group D qualifying campaign, it is speculated OFA will hand over the reins to an Omani coach.
It may mentioned that OFA terminated Le Guen’s contract on November 19, two days after Oman’s 1-2 away defeat to Turkmenistan in a crucial Group D qualifying match of the 2018 World Cup/2019 Asian Cup.
Oman, who have 11 points against group toppers Iran’s 14, are in danger of not able to clinch the direct berth into the next round of the World Cup qualifiers, provided Iran win both their next games. However, Oman still have a chance to clinch the top spot in the group if they defeat Guam and Iran in their two next matches in March.
