Carlos Alberto Parreira has emerged as favourite to succeed Luiz Felipe Scolari as national coach of Brazil.

Reports from Rio de Janeiro suggest that a contract offer may be put to Parreira, 59, as early as next week.

The other leading contenders are Oswaldo de Oliveira and Wanderley Luxemburgo – who quit amid a series of financial scandals after the Olympic Games flop in Sydney in 2000.

Parreira was a member of the coaching staff at the 1970 and 1974 World Cups final and then managed Brazil to victory in the United States in 1994.
By Keir Radnedge