Jacques Santini named
France coach
Jacques Santini was named France coach on Friday, succeeding Roger Lemerre who was sacked after the World Cup defending champions' first round exit last month.
French Football federation (FFF) president Claude Simonet made the announcement at the end of a FFF council meeting in Paris.
The main task for Santini, who steered Olympique Lyon to their first ever league title last season, will be to guide holders France to the 2004 European championship finals. Their qualifying programme starts away to Cyprus on September 7.
France sacked Lemerre after his strongly-fancied side failed to win a match or score a goal in the World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan last month.
Santini was in the frame for the job along with former Japan coach Philippe Troussier, Raymond Domenech, who has been France's under-21 coach since the mid-1990s, and Lemerre's assistant Rene Girard.