Relegated Cerezo Osaka will offer their vacant coaching position to former Kashima Antlers manager Paulo Autuori, the club's head of development said on Wednesday.
Isao Miyamoto said Cerezo had been considering several candidates, among them Brazilian Sergio Farias, who won the 2009 Asian Champions League with the K-League's Pohang Steelers.
But they decided on the 58-year-old Autuori, who took Sao Paulo to the 2005 Club World Cup title and has experience working in Japan.
Miyamoto, though, said the competition for Autuori's services is stiff.
"We won't have the best offer in terms of money," Miyamoto said. "I think we've got a 50 percent chance."