体坛英语新闻：Frenchman Perrin reported to be China's new football coach

BEIJING, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Former Lyon coach Alain Perrin is reported to be the Chinese national football team's new head coach on Wednesday, but the Chinese Football Association(CFA) haven't confirmed the news.

Web company Sina reported that according to CFA's vice president Yu Hongchen, the 57-year-old Frenchman Perrin will take over the positon from caretaker Fu Bo, who has been in charge of the team after Antonio Camacho was sacked following a humiliating 1-5 friendly loss to Thailand.

CFA spokeswoman Huang Shiwei told Xinhua, she could say nothing about the news. The CFA said on its twitter-like weibo, "We have been progressing on choosing a new coach for the national team, and will make it open to the media timely when there's a result."

China will play Iraq on March 5 in their last group match at the 2015 Asian Cup Australia qualifiers in Dubai. And a draw will see the away side through to the Asian Cup finals as group runners-up, second to leaders Saudi Arabia. Fu Bo will still be the coach for the match, which is probably his last one in charge. It is reported that Perrin will fly to Dubai with the Chinese team and watch that game.

Perrin began his coaching career at AS Nancy in 1983 as junior coach to Arsene Wenger. He managed to take non-league club Troyes AC to Ligue 1 after three promotions in six seasons and qualifying for the UEFA Cup. He moved to Marseille in 2002, and after that he went to the United Arab Emirates in 2004 to become the boss of Al-Ain, and was sacked in October.

Perrin became Premier League outfit Portsmouth's boss in 2005, and after an unsuccessful period he went back to his home country, where his coaching career came to a new high. In 2007 he took Sochaux to the French Cup glory, and then took place of Gerard Houllier as the manager of Olympique Lyonnais in 2007. Perrin helped Lyon retain the seventh consecutive Ligue 1 title and also win the French Cup in his first year at the powerhouse. He was linked to French national team's coaching position in 2008, but Raymond Domenech continued his reign.

Perrin went to Saint Etienne in 2008, and after one year he flew to join Qatari club Al Gharafa, but he left there after merely two months to be appointed as new boss of Umm Salal in 2013.

The Chinese national team has been struggling in recent years. They failed to reach the last round of the World Cup Asian qualifiers consecutively for the past three editions, and even finds it difficult to advance to the Asian Cup finals.