China appoints new coach

Frenchman Alain Perrin has been appointed the head coach of the Chinese national soccer team, said Yu Hongchen, vice-president of Chinese soccer's governing body, the CFA, on Wednesday.

The Chinese national -soccer team have underachieved in -recent years, highlighted by a humiliating 5-1 loss to Thailand in June last year, which triggered the sacking of Spaniard Jose Antonio Camacho.

Camacho was reportedly earning an annual salary of 2.8 million euros ($3.75 -million) when he took charge of the team in 2011, while Perrin is said to have an annual salary under $1 million, news portal sina.com reported.

After sacking the Spaniard, the CFA announced its plan to pick a top-tier -foreign coach, but interim coach Fu Bo was backed for the permanent job after he led the team to a mini-revival at the East Asian Cup in July.

However, a lack of tactical variety during Asian Cup qualification games has led to negative comments from fans.

Fu was confirmed by the CFA to lead China's pivotal qualification game against Iraq on March 5.

China ranked 88th in the latest FIFA rankings and 10th among Asian nations and -regions. Their only appearance at the World Cup was in 2002, at which they scored no goals, while the best record at the intracontinental games was a runner-up finish at home in 2004.

Perrin, who spent his last three years in Qatar coaching four different teams including Qatar's Olympic team, led French side Olympique -Lyonnais to a domestic double in 2008, securing them an -astonishing seven consecutive league titles.

He has had spells with French sides Marseille, Sochaux and Saint-Etienne since 2002, while he also helped English side Portsmouth fight against relegation in 2005 during an eight-month stint.

Bora Milutinovic, also known as Milu, who was at the helm when China made their debut at the World Cup in 2002, said Chinese fans should trust Perrin and be patient.

"I heard that the CFA had picked a French coach ... as the head coach of China … No -matter who you picked, first you should trust and support him, give him time and space," Milu wrote in his blog on Wednesday.

However, most Chinese -soccer fans have not welcomed the CFA's decision. Some -argued that just because a coach knows much about West Asian soccer, it doesn't mean he -understands all Asian -soccer.

One fan even pointed out Perrin didn't do so well when he was with Lyonnais, saying via Sina Weibo, "In his season with Lyonnais, they won the league only four points ahead of the runners-up, but previously they won the league by double figures."