Italian Giovanni de Biasi has been named as the successor to Josip Kuze in charge of the Albanian national team, the country's football federation announced on Wednesday.
Albanian federation spokesman Lirim Zalla said that De Biasi, 55, has signed a two-year contract, although no other details were revealed.
De Biasi has never coached at international level before although he has plenty of experience of the club game, having taken charge of Italian teams Modena, Brescia, Torino and Udinese and having also had a spell in Spain with Levante.
Croatian Kuze left in October after Albania finished fifth in their six-team Euro 2012 qualifying Group D with just two wins and nine points from ten games.
The Balkan nation have been drawn in Group E in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, alongside Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Cyprus and Iceland.
They are due to kick off their campaign at home to Cyprus on September 7, before travelling to Switzerland four days later.
Source: AFP
