By Kennedy Gondwe BBC Sport, Lusaka

Bwalya is a former African player of the year

Kalusha Bwalya leads the race to be named as Zambia's new national coach, to replace Patrick Phiri who was fired on Wednesday.

The president of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ), Evaristo Kasunga, confirmed to BBC Sport website on Friday that Bwalya is the front-runner.

The former Zambia captain is expected back in Lusaka early next month for talks with FAZ officials.

Zambia's national team has also been disbanded as a result of its failure to qualify for the Nations Cup finals in Tunisia.

Kasunga said the drastic decision was taken in the "best interest of football of Zambia".

We must re-organise ourselves Gladys Nyirongo Zambia's sports minister

He said: "In the interest of all stakeholders, we have had to take this difficult decision."

Sports minister Gladys Nyirongo has also joined in the debate by voicing her unhappiness with Zambia's defeat to Malawi in a Cosafa Cup semi-final last week.

She instructed FAZ to employ Bwalya or find an expatriate coach to turn around the fortunes of the national team.

"It's imperative that we re-organise ourselves and we can't afford to wait," said Nyirongo.

But football analysts in the country believe that the decision to disband the national side will not achieve much.

"The urgency to treat the symptoms rather than the cause of our problems will result in no significant change in the team's performance," said sports journalist Ponga Liwewe.