MOSCOW - The Russian Football Union (RFU) on Monday appointed Italian coach Fabio Capello as new national manager to revive the flagging fortunes of the team after its flop at Euro 2012.
"We expect him to come to Moscow in the nearest future to finalise the details of his contract and sign it," RFU deputy president Nikita Simonyan told ITAR-TASS news agency.
"I think this will happen on Wednesday or Thursday," added Simonyan, who is acting chief of the RFU after Sergei Fursenko resigned last month.
Capello said he was happy and proud to take over Russia's national side. "And I'll be happy if my work with the Russian team will go right way. The co-operation with this team is a great challenge for me as Russia is a great country," Capello was quoted as saying by Italian news agency ANSA.
Financial details have not been disclosed but the Sport Express daily reported last week that Capello had been offered an annual salary of up to 7 million euros ($F15.54m).
One of the Italian manager's key conditions was reportedly having Italian-speaking Russian assistant coaches in his squad.