Soccer-Switzerland to move quickly to appoint new coach

ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland are moving quickly to appoint a new national coach a week after the departure of Vladimir Petkovic and with World Cup qualifiers only one month away, the country’s football association said on Monday.

It said a commission has been working on the succession plan and established a shortlist of candidates after receiving "numerous interesting applications from home and abroad".

“This week the personal interviews with the candidates will take place,” said national team director Pierluigi Tami in a statement.

“We are confident that we will be able to present the new national coach to the public as soon as possible,” he added.

Switzerland play Greece in a warm-up friendly in Basel on Sept. 1 and then have a World Cup qualifier at home to Italy on Sept. 5, also at St Jakob Park, and away at Northern Ireland on Sept. 8.

Last week, Petkovic quit after seven years in charge of the Swiss national team and taking them to the last eight of the European Championship before being beaten by Spain in a penalty shootout.

The 57-year-old Petkovic signed a three-year contract with French club Girondins de Bordeaux, who begin their new Ligue 1 campaign this weekend.

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Christian Radnedge)