ISLAMABAD, Jan 19: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has screened out five of the seven foreign candidates who have applied for the post of national team’s coach, secretary of the federation Ahmed Yar Lodhi said on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference here at the Pakistan Sports Complex, Lodhi informed: “The PFF has shortlisted two foreign coaches from Hungary and Germany and the selected candidate will join us by the end of the next month”.

Earlier, the PFF had shortlisted seven foreign candidates for the said purpose and negotiations were underway to hire a top performing coach who would be paid around $10,000 to $15,000 per month to train the national team.

Football coaches from UK, Brazil, Czech Republic, Hungary, Iran, Germany and Hungary were in the run for the position. “The government has also released an amount of Rs20 million in this regard” he said.

Commenting about the U-21 league, he pointed out that 12 clubs would participate in the National U-21 Football Championship 2009 which carries a prizemoney of Rs 100,000.

Four teams each from provinces, clubs and regions will compete in the 10-day event.

Commenting on formation of a competitive national football squad for the South Asian Games, Lodhi asserted: “The focus of the PFF is on youth and the U-21 championship is the first step towards unearthing young talent”.

Pakistan football team would defend its title in the 11th SAF Games, to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh at the end of this year.

Meanwhile, the PFF Development Manager North, Irfan Niazi during the age scrutiny for the U-21 league, barred around 30 players from participation in the championship.

Talking to Dawn he said: “We have only barred those players who were overage and we want to give more opportunity to the emerging young players rather than aged ones.”

He informed that no foreign nationality player would be allowed to participate in the championship. Regarding the age scrutiny he said: “It’s about playing fair and ensuring transparency in the championship”.