Ivica Osim has emerged as the leading candidate to succeed Zico as manager of Japan's national team.

Zico announced before the World Cup that he plans to step down when the tournament is over and talks with Osim reportedly begun several months ago.

Japan Football Association president Saburo Kawabuchi told Kyodo News: "We want to sign a formal contract as soon as he accepts our offer.

"We don't know yet whether we can sign him. I'm talking about what we feel is going in our favour, 70 or 80 on a scale of 100."

Osim, 65, was in charge of Yugoslavia when they reached the last eight of the 1990 World Cup and also had spells with Partizan Belgrade, Panathaikos and Sturm Graz before joining J-League side JEF United Chiba in 2003.