Soccer-New Russia coach to be named in next two weeks - RFU

By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy MOSCOW, July 14 (Reuters) - Outgoing coach Fabio Capello's successor will be a Russian and will be named in the next two weeks, acting president of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Nikita Simonyan said on Tuesday. The RFU said it had ended its contract with Italian Capello, three years before the country hosts the 2018 World Cup finals. The 69-year-old Capello managed England at the 2010 World Cup and took over as Russia coach in July 2012 and had extended his contract until the end of the 2018 tournament. "By the end of July we should sort out who the new head coach should be," Simonyan told reporters following a RFU executive committee meeting. "It is possible that he could combine the role with club management till the end of qualifying for Euro 2016." "We are looking at a few candidates -- Leonid Slutski, Yuri Semin, Kurban Berdyev, Gadzhi Gadzhiev, Alexander Borodyuk, Stanislav Cherchesov." Slutski is currently in charge of CSKA Moscow, Semin is with Anzhi Makhachkala, Berdyev with Rostov and Gadzhiev is with Amkar Perm. Borodyuk was an assistant to Guus Hiddink and Dick Advocaat in Russia's national team while Cherchesov recently quit Dynamo Moscow. According to local media, Slutski is the favourite to land the job. However, Slutski said the RFU was yet to contact him about taking over at the helm of the national team. "No one has contacted me about the national team," the 44-year-old said on Monday, during a meeting with CSKA fans ahead of the start of the new season. "In theory I am ready to train even the national team of Mars, but what is the point in talking about this? If I get an offer, then I will look at it." Slutski formerly coached Uralan Elista, FC Moscow and Krylya Sovetov Samara. In 2009 he took over at CSKA Moscow and has helped the club win the Russian title twice. Capello took the team to the World Cup finals in Brazil last summer but Capello's side were knocked out in the group stages. The team's form has not improved since then and they suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss at home to Austria in their Euro 2016 qualifier on June 14, leaving them third in Group G with eight points from six games. (Reporting By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)