China football bosses have given themselves less than a week to find a new coach for the senior women’s team, and fans are already starting to suggest potential candidates, among them Hongkonger Chan Yuen-ting.

The 38-year-old, who made history when she led Eastern to the Hong Kong Premier League title in 2016, has seen her profile rise among fans in mainland China in the past few years.

Chan guided Jiangsu women to National Games gold last November, leads the team in the Chinese Women’s Super League, and has recently also been working with the Suzhou team in the local league.

She is no stranger to the national set-up either, having taken charge of the China women’s under-16 side between 2019 and 2021.

Still, anyone interested replacing Ante Milicic will need to act quickly, and being under the age of 55 will help too, maybe.

According to the CFA’s job advert, the next head coach should be “under 55 years old, regardless of their nationality”, although that was then contradicted by the notice saying the age requirement “could be relaxed for those with outstanding coaching achievements and extensive experience in major competitions”.

Milicic left on Friday, little more than eight months before the Steel Roses play in next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil, and with the qualifying process for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics still to take place.

The team, ranked eighth in the world, also failed to defend their Asian Cup title in Australia earlier this year, and returned home from the Asian Games in Japan empty-handed.

Discussion on social media over who might get the role also centred on former player Ma Xiaoxu, who now coaches the Chinese women’s under-17 side.

However, while the former forward has put together some outstanding results since taking the helm in January, her focus has been on youth training, meaning she has relatively little experience in senior competitions.

But with the team having gone through 16 head coaches in the past 25 years, and few surviving more than two years in the job, fans were keen to not only find a “good coach, but also one who can commit long-term”.