Football
Michael Church, Asia correspondent 7y

China announce Marcello Lippi as new coach to replace Gao Hongbo

Marcello Lippi has been named as the new head coach of China after Guangzhou Evergrande terminated their agreement with the World Cup-winning Italian to take over at the club next year.

Lippi, 68, will replace Gao Hongbo who resigned earlier in the month, after signing a contract with the Chinese Football Association (CFA) on Saturday, according to a statement issued on the CFA's social media feed.

"Following the CFA's regulations on the national team coach selection process, and after friendly mutual discussions, the China Football Association officially announces that Mr. Marcello Lippi will become the head coach of the China national football team from October 22," said the statement.

A news conference will be held on Oct. 28 to officially present the Italian to the media.

The former Juventus coach met with CFA president Cai Zhenhua alongside the president of the Evergrande corporation, Xu Jiayin, in Beijing on Saturday afternoon and the move comes after Guangzhou announced that their agreement with Lippi had been cancelled.

Lippi had been lined up to replace Luiz Felipe Scolari next season but he will now take over a national team that has struggled so far in Asia's final round of qualifying for Russia 2018, having picked up just one point over the last four games -- a run of form that forced Gao to quit.

The Italian, though, is believed to have been offered a broader remit and the role is likely to also include playing a major part in overhauling the entire structure of Chinese football.

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