体坛英语新闻：Roy Hodgson named England manager with four year contract

LONDON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Football Association just announced the appointment of Roy Hodgson as England Manager and will declare it shortly in a press conference at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.

The 64-year-old signs a four year contract.

He is currently the Premier League side West Bromwich manager and has agreed a four year deal to become the full-time manager of the Three Lions.

The FA says Hodgson is the only English manager currently working in the top flight to have won the League Managers' Association manager of the year award. And he also has vast experience of international and European football.

Hodgson, who once coached the national teams of Switzerland, Finland and the United Arab Emirates, met with FA officials at Wembley on Monday.

Having taken Switzerland to the FIFA World Cup in 1994 - their first finals competition for 28 years - Hodgson also achieved a FIFA ranking of third in the world as well as successfully qualifying the team for Euro 96.

He also has vast coaching experiences in clubs. His former clubs include Inter Milan, Blackburn Rovers, Grasshoppers, FC Copenhagen, Fulham and Liverpool. He has also managed in Norway and Sweden. In addition, he has been a regular member of FIFA and UEFA's technical study groups at tournaments.

The new Manager will take charge of England at Wembley for the first time, when England take on Belgium on Saturday 2 June at Wembley Stadium.

After that, the big contest for the new manager and the Three Lions will be June's European Championship.