Tigana, Blanc lead race to succeed Santini

France have barely returned home from Euro 2004 and the battle is on to succeed coach Jacques Santini, with Jean Tigana and Laurent Blanc emerging as the leading contenders.

"A decision should be taken when the French federation hold a regular meeting on July 9," a FFF spokesman told Reuters yesterday.

"That is of course if everything goes according to plan," he added, hinting that the naming of the new coach could be delayed as it was before Santini replaced Roger Lemerre after France exited the 2002 World Cup.

Another deadline is August 20, when France play a friendly against Switzerland.

Meanwhile, the power struggle is on, even more openly than in 2002 because while Lemerre refused to resign for several weeks, Santini announced before Euro 2004 that he was stepping down to coach Tottenham Hotspur. Among the main kingmakers in French soccer, Michel Platini, who captained France to their first European title in 1984, is promoting Tigana.

"Jean could become a very good national coach," Platini, who also coached France for four years, told reporters.

FFF chairman Claude Simonet did not seem ready to follow Platini's advice when he told French radio Europe 1 yesterday that Tigana was just one of the candidates.

"Some people around me think that Blanc could also be a very good national coach," he said.

Platini, however, disagrees.

"I don't know Blanc's qualifications as a coach. I'm not sure that he has the qualifications to take charge of the national side," he said, hinting that Blanc had no managerial experience.