(Vienna, AUT) - Swiss Marcel Koller will take over as coach of the Austrian national team, succeeding Dietmar Constantini who resigned last month after a string of losses, the Austrian football federation (OeFB) said Tuesday.
"The directors of the OeFB voted unanimously today to appoint Marcel Koller as the new coach of the Austrian national team," federation president Leo Windtner told a press conference.
He welcomed that the OeFB had found somebody "with international experience, leadership qualities and good communication skills" with whom it could lay a new foundation for the team.
Koller, 50, will take over on November 1 and lead the Austrian side through the qualifying process for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
His first match will be a friendly game against Ukraine on November 15.
Interim coach Willi Ruttensteiner will remain in charge for Austria's last two Euro 2012 qualifiers, against Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan on October 7 and 11, although the small alpine country is already out of the running for the European tournament in Poland and Ukraine next year.
Koller praised his new team, noting: "there are young players there with talent who can develop it further... they play with a lot of passion."
"I see potential there and I think we can work well together.
"I'm confident... we'll find a way to bring Austrian football forward and finally achieve the goals that one must have with a national side to reach qualifications."
Koller, a two-time Swiss league champion as coach of Sankt Gallen in 2000 and Zurich Grasshopper in 2003, was last in charge of German Bundesliga side VfL Bochum until September 2009.
He also had a brief spell as coach of Cologne in the 2003-2004 season, while as player he won the Swiss title seven times with Grasshopper and was part of the Swiss national side at the 1996 European championships.
Constantini stepped down on September 13 after the OeFB said it would not extend his contract at the end of the year. In 23 games under his leadership Austria won seven and lost 13.
The current coach of Austrian champions Sturm Graz, Franco Foda, had initially been named in the media as the favourite to succeed Constantini.
