The Ivorian Football Federation has announced a five-man shortlist for the vacant position of head coach of the national team.

The Elephants are without a coach following the departure of Frenchman Hervé Renard who left for Lille earlier in the year after winning the Africa Cup of Nations.

The five contenders selected are Patrice Neveu, Paolo Duarte, Michel Dussuyer, Henryk Kasperczak and Frederic Antonetti. The list includes three Frenchmen, a Polish and a Portuguese who are all expected to have proficiency in French.

In a statement published on the website of the federation, 59 applications were received and the committee set up to select a coach presented a choice of five to the Executive Committee.

The shortlist will further be cut down to three before a final decision is made. Frederic Antonetti is the only one not to have worked on the continent.

Henryk Kasperczak is perhaps the most successful amongst the five having secured second place with Tunisia in 1996, third with Côte d'Ivoire (1994) and fourth with Mali (2002) at the African Cup of Nations tournament.

Paolo Duarte on the other hand has coached Burkina Faso and then Gabon where he was sacked for failing to qualify the team to the 2013 AFCON and 2014 World Cup.

Patrice Neveu has had stints with Niger, Guinea and DR Congo with his latest job being with Mauritania. Michel Dussuyer has coached Benin and then recently the Syli Nationale of Guinea.

The job has become vacant because Hervé Renard, who led the Elephants to a historic second African Cup of Nations title, left to Lille in France.

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