Former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was appointed Mexico's national football coach Tuesday, and will lead the team on the path to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, dpa reported.
Justino Compean, president of the Mexican Football Federation (FMF), announced the deal with Eriksson at the end of a meeting of the owners of the 18 teams in the top category of Mexican football, who backed the designation "unanimously."
"I think we are going to have a good relationship in future," the Swede told reporters in Spanish after his designation was made public.
Eriksson, 60, said the move is "a great challenge because Mexico is a great country."
"I am very proud of the players in the Mexican national team," he said.
Speculation had been rife for weeks that the former England manager Eriksson was the favourite to coach Mexico ahead of the South Africa 2010 World Cup, and CNN en Espanol reported in mid-May that he had reached a preliminary 9-million-dollar deal to coach Mexico.
Eriksson coached England from 2001 to 2006. In 2007 he joined Manchester City on a three-year contract. His exit from the club was announced Monday, two years early, following a review by owner Thaksin Shinawatra of the club's performance last season.
Mexico had been coached by national football legend Hugo Sanchez since 2006. However, Sanchez was fired in March following poor results including the U23 side's failure to obtain a spot at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Interim coach Jesus Ramirez is currently at the helm.
Mexico are to play friendlies with Argentina and Peru in the coming days.