Former Italy manager and seven-time Serie A winning coach Giovanni Trapattoni is the new manager of Ireland, the Italian veteran announced at a press conference in Salzburg Wednesday.
Trapattoni said he had been given a two-year contract starting from next June, when he leaves his present club Red Bull Salzburg.
''This is a great new challenge for me,'' said Trapattoni, who will be 69 next month.
The terms of his contract were not released but press reports have said he will get two million euros a year.
Trapattoni said his more immediate goal was to win a second straight title with Salburg.
''It will be my parting gift to them,'' he said.
Trapattoni, whose glittering managerial career includes spells at Turin giants Juventus, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich, replaces Steve Staunton who was sacked in October after Ireland failed to qualify for Euro 2008.
Ireland hopes he can help steer it to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa - from a qualifying group in which the Irish have been drawn against Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia and Montenegro.
Former Arsenal and Juventus star Liam Brady - who played under Trapattoni in Turin - is expected to join Trapattoni's new set-up, Irish media have reported.
Trapattoni led Italy to the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004 but both campaigns ended in disappointment.
After Euro 2004 he coached Benfica to the Portuguese title before a brief spell at Stuttgart.
He joined Salzburg in July 2006 on a two-year contract. Trapattoni - known in Italy by the nickname Trap - took over Italy in 2000 after a distinguished club career that included 20 titles and cups.
He won six Serie A titles with Juventus and one with Inter Milan.
He also coached Bayern Munich to the German league title.
Trap is a colourful character known for his high-energy touch-line coaching, a habit of sprinkling holy water on his bench and his exuberant displays at press conferences.
One protracted outburst in broken German during his time at Bayern was turned into a popular Internet video dubbed the Trap-Rap.
His term at the Italy helm was troubled, with calls for his resignation after Italy's shock early exit in the 2002 World Cup to co-hosts South Korea and also after a poor start to the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign.
He managed to ride out the storms and great things were expected of his side in Euro 2004 but Italy failed to get past the group stage.
As a club coach he started off with two years at his former club AC Milan before moving to Juve.
Aside from his six first division titles, he won one Italian Cup and one European Super Cup there.
During his playing career for AC Milan, Trapattoni won two first division titles, one Italian Cup, two European Champions' Cups, one Cup Winners Cup and one Inter-Continental Cup.
He played 17 matches for Italy, scoring one goal.
A top-class defender schooled by AC Milan's legendary Nereo Rocco, Trapattoni's most notable performance came for the national side. He virtually marked Pele out the match when Italy beat Brazil 3-0 at the San Siro in May 1963.
