Kaizer Chiefs are edging closer to appointing their new head coach.

Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung confirmed to Sowetan yesterday that their shortlist will be cut down from six to three this week.

He denied claims that the three-man shortlist had already been drawn up and insisted that six candidates were still being considered for the top job out of about 20 CVs received.

"It was six and it's still six," Motaung confirmed. "We will cut it down to three this week, or maybe one.

"We don't want to make comments at the moment, just give us time to go on with the process that we are following.

"We will call you [the media] soon," he said.

The initial idea was to appoint a coach by mid-June, before the start of pre-season.

"We will make our people [the fans] aware and tell them what's happening. We will appoint a new coach before pre-season," Motaung added.

It's not clear at this stage when the team will return to training, but it's expected to be in the next 10 days, with Chiefs set to contest the new Shell Helix Ultra Cup against Mamelodi Sundowns at FNB Stadium on July 21.

Avram Grant, the former Chelsea and Ghana national team coach, has emerged as the favourite to replace Steve Komphela.

The Israeli has been in charge of North East United, who campaign in the Indian Super League, but he's thought to be very keen to take on the Chiefs challenge.

Chiefs have been linked with a host of coaches, mostly foreigners. Serbian mentor Nikola Kavazovic of Botswana side Township Rollers, former TP Mazembe mentor Patrice Carteron from France and Luc Eymael, the Belgian in charge of Free State Stars, have been mentioned.

The Soweto giants have previously favoured coaches from outside the country. When they appointed Komphela three years ago, he became only the second local coach to lead Chiefs on a permanent basis since Trott Moloto in 1994.

As things stand, it appears it will be a foreigner again.

The new man will be expected to hit the ground running after Amakhosi's three barren seasons under Komphela, who resigned in April after a 2-0 defeat at Free State Stars in the Nedbank Cup.