Hans (also known as Hasse) Backe, who is also a former New York Red Bulls coach, was appointed as coach of Finland on Wednesday, the country's national football federation confirmed.
“We are glad to announce that our new head coach for the men's national team is Hasse [Hans] Backe,” the chairman of the Finnish Football Association, Pertti Alaja, told reporters.
Alaja described the 63-year-old Swede as a “very experienced, international, successful coach.”
Backe's most recent assignment was as coach of the New York Red Bulls in the US Major League Soccer, from 2010-2012.
Prior to that he won the Danish league four times with FC Copenhagen and Aalborg BK.
He was also Sven-Göran Eriksson's assistant coach at Manchester City and coached Austrian team SV Salzburg as well as Greek giants Panathinaikos.
Backe was additionally assistant coach for the Mexican national team from 2008-2009 as well as several Swedish club sides, following a brief playing career in the 1970s.
Finland's former head coach Mixu Paatelainen was sacked in June after four consecutive defeats in Euro-2016 qualifying matches.
Finland are currently second last in Group F in the Euro 2016 competition.
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