Ahly board member Taher El-Sheikh announced that Portuguese coach Manuel Jose is out of the race to become coach after Wednesday's board meeting.

Egypt’s most successful club, Ahly, have filed a list of coach candidates, none of them Egyptian, to take over as manager following the sacking of Fathi Mabrouk.

Mabrouk succeeded Spanish coach Juan Carlos Garrido in May but failed to bring Ahly any major trophy and was sacked this week.

The 69-year-old Portuguese tactician Manuel Jose, who led Ahly to the 2001 African Champions League title and an earth-shattering 6-1 victory over arch-rivals Zamalek in the Cairo derby but suddenly departed in the summer of 2002, seemed most likely to be in charge of the team.

Jose led Ahly to a series of trophies during three spells, including six CAF Champions League titles, four CAF Super Cups, six Egyptian Premier League titles, two Egyptian Cups, and four Super Cups. He also led Ahly to finish third in the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup.

Ahly board members held a meeting on Wednesday to choose between four names including Marcos Paqueta, Felipe Scolari, Thomas Schaaf, along with Manuel Jose.

"The board members refused the return of Manuel Jose," Ahly board member Taher El-Sheikh said after the meeting.

"We have not yet decided on the coach. We are still in talks to choose the applicable one," the board member added.

"Ahly's new coach will be a Spanish or Portuguese tactician." El-Sheikh concluded.

The club's head of youth development Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Shafy, known as Zizo, is taking the reigns temporarily ahead of the much anticipated Egypt Super Cup against Zamalek in mid-October.

The name of Ahly's new coach is expected to be unveiled after Monday's meeting.

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