Football Federation Australia (FFA) has settled on a short list of candidates for the role of Caltex Socceroos Head Coach and will soon begin formal interviews.

FFA chief executive David Gallop said a large number of local and international candidates had expressed an interest in the role.

“We have worked with our panel of internal and external experts, including former Socceroos Mark Schwarzer, Mark Bresciano and Stan Lazaridis, to draw up the selection criteria and then considered candidates against this criteria,” he said.

“Through this process we have whittled the names down to a small number of candidates, local and international, and we will soon begin the formal interviews.

“It is has been clear from the outset that we have to pick someone who can lead the Caltex Socceroos for this year’s FIFA World Cup while also making sure we have the right set-up for the future, including next year’s AFC Asian Cup at which we will be the defending champions.

"The role has attracted some outstanding individuals and we are confident that we will be able to achieve a very good result for football in Australia.”

Mr Gallop said the process was on track for an appointment to be complete by the middle of February as set out in the initial statement on December 5.

FFA will make no further comment on the process at this stage.