Former France head coach Elisabeth Loisel has emerged as the favorite to take the helm of the Chinese women's football national team, which were left rudderless after Marika Domanski-Lyfors declined to come back to China and extend her contract.

Though Domanski-Lyfors failed to meet her own pre-tournament target of leading the hosts into the top four of the FIFA Women's World Cup, she won universal approval with the local press and fans. The Chinese Football Association (CFA) had expressed their wish to keep everything stay put and the Swede could remain with the Chinese side in preparation for next year's Olympic Games.

But Domanski-Lyfors thought otherwise and chose to stay with her family.

"I am happy in China and like the job, but my family comes first," Domanski-Lyfors was quoted as telling Swedish media.

With the Olympics less than 300 days away, the Chinese football governing body has to set off a frantic hunt for a new coach for the "Steel Roses". They have fixed their target on three candidates with Loisel tipped as the best-equipped one.

"We have to fast-track our selection process as there is not so much time left. We hope the new coach would be in position by the end of this month," said a CFA insider.

Loisel's contenders are April Heinrich, former head coach of the United States, and the incumbent Brazil manager Jorge Barcellos, and with a similar background in European football to Domanski-Lyfors, the former France coach is reckoned as the ideal successor to ensure a troubleless transition ahead of the Women's Olympic Football Tournament.

"We have sounded some revered experts on Domanski-Lyfors replacement, and most of them also prefer Loisel," said the CFA source.

"If we chose her, the upside for her is that she shares the rather similar style with Domanski-Lyfors and that can ensure she could fit into the team soon, and the downside is she has no experience of managing a team in any major tournaments like World Cup and Olympic Games," he said.

The quit of Domanski-Lyfors left the Chinese team agitated and unsettled.

"She is an unpretentious and jovial character, and often treated us as her daughters," said midfielder Bi Yan.

"We sincerely hope she could continue to coach us as she has raised the team's overall strength up a notch. A new coach is now coming and we have to cotton on to each other, and sometimes it is very painful.

"We hope the new coach could be very much like Marika," she said.

The CFA has entered into talks with Loisel, and the French lady didn't conceal her excitement at the prospect of taking charge of the talented but unpredictable Chinese.

"I am very interested in the job and it will come as an extraordinary challenge in my coaching career," she told local press this week. "But negotiations are ongoing and nothing can be taken for granted for the time being."

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2007)