The Socceroos' quest for their next coach is on track to delivering an enticing selection of high-quality candidates, Football Federation Australia (FFA) chief executive Ben Buckley revealed on Thursday.
The FFA is prepared to pay up to 6 million Australian dollars (5.1 million U.S. dollars) to lure a top-class coach. Buckley said there had been a clamour for the position from coaches from around the world.
Current Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek will quit his post after the World Cup.
The FFA wants his successor in place ahead of the Asian Cup tournament in January next year, then to stay on for the 2014 World Cup campaign.
With a development structure heavily influenced by Dutch coaches and techniques, the smart money is on another Dutchman to succeed Verbeek.
However, Buckley said a quality international field was starting to assemble, and more coaches are likely to become available and interested after the current World Cup.
"There has been an excellent response from many, many different coaches around the world," he said.
"The calibre of that response has been extremely high. We're confident going forward we'll have the right candidate in place."