JOHANNESBURG, Aug 14: After advertising for a new national coach on its website, the Cameroon Football Federation have posted the names of 78 candidates who it says have applied for the job.

The list names applicants from 22 countries and could prove embarrassing for coaches already in charge of national teams or prominent clubs.

Hungarian-born Laszlo Csaba, current coach of Uganda, is named among the candidates less than a month before a vital African Nations Cup qualifier against Niger in Kampala.

Eritrea's Romanian coach Dorian Marian and the 69-year-old German Otto Pfister, who took Togo to the last World Cup finals in Germany, are also on the list.

Pfister is currently coach of Al Merreikh in Sudan.

Among the 11 French candidates are Jean-Pierre Papin, who last season led Racing Strasbourg back to Ligue 1, and Philippe Troussier, who has coached six national teams.

Former coach Artur Jorge, who quit after Cameroon's quarter-final exit at the last Nations Cup finals in Egypt 18 months ago, is also back in the frame, along with current caretaker boss Jules Nyongha.

Nyongha has already ensured Cameroon's qualification for next year's Nations Cup finals in Ghana.

A shortlist of candidates is expected to be named in the coming weeks, following meetings between the Cameroon Football Federation and the sports ministry, who will pay the coach's salary.—Reuters