Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has been named the new
coach of Ivory Coast and will lead the team to this summer's World
Cup in South Africa.
Souleymane Alex Bamba, a member of Ivory Coast's Football
Federation (FIF), made the announcement on national television
Sunday evening - one month to the day after FIF president Jacques
Anouma fired the previous coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, also on live
television.
Eriksson was chosen ahead of several other candidates for
being "an experienced coach who has proved himself," the FIF said
in a statement.
Halilhodzic was sacked after a disappointing performance at
the African Cup of Nations tournament earlier this year, when the
team lost in the quarterfinals to Algeria.
Ivory Coast, led by Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, are in
Group G with Brazil, Portugal and North Korea at the World Cup,
which runs from June 11-July 11.
Halilhodzic won 23 consecutive matches before his first, and
decisive, loss to Algeria.
Russia's Dutch coach Guus Hiddink had emerged as an early
favorite to replace Halilhodzic, but an agreement was never reached
with the Ivorian federation.
Eriksson took England to the last two World Cups and reached
the quarterfinals in both 2002 and 2006 before ending his stint as
the country's first foreign manager.
The 62-year-old Swede had hoped to take Mexico to the World
Cup, but was fired in April 2009 after less than a year in the job.
Eriksson won only four of nine World Cup qualifiers.
While less of a success at international level, Eriksson has
won plenty at the clubs he has coached.
Eriksson won six trophies with Lazio between 1997 and 2000,
including Serie A, the European Cup Winner's Cup and two Italian
cups. He led Sweden's IFK Goteborg to the UEFA Cup in 1982.
He also won domestic cups with Benfica, AS Roma, Fiorentina
and Sampdoria.
Eriksson didn't get the chance to produce Manchester City's
first major trophy since 1976, getting fired after only taking
charge of the 2007-08 season. He left his most recent job as
director of football at English fourth-tier club Notts County in
February after less than seven months.
Long regarded as one of the best teams in Africa, Ivory Coast
was drawn in a particularly tough group at the 2006 World Cup,
bowing out after finishing third behind the Netherlands and
Argentina.
