Former Japan coach Zico will take over at Turkish club Fenerbahce, the team announced yesterday.

It was good news for local champions Birkirkara. In fact, Zico might be in Malta in a few weeks …. If the Stripes beat B36 Torshavn of the Faroe Islands in the first qualifying round of the Champions League.

The winners of that tie have been drawn to meet the Turkish club in the following round.

The Brazil-born Zico, 53, stepped down shortly after the Japanese were eliminated from the World Cup. Japan failed to reach the knockout round, finishing at the bottom of Group F after a 3-1 defeat to Australia, a goalless draw with Croatia and a 4-1 loss to Brazil.

Fenerbahce had been looking for a new coach since the resignation of German coach Christoph Daum after the club finished a disappointing 2005-2006 season, finishing second in the Turkish league to crosstown rivals Galatasaray.

Fenerbahce is Turkey’s richest club, and team directors have said they are looking for big-name foreign players too. That description would have applied to Zico in the 1980s, when he was one of the world’s best midfielders.