Former Sporting Lisbon boss Paulo Bento replaces Carlos Queiroz as Portugal coach

By Sportsmail Reporter Updated: 18:33 EST, 21 September 2010

Paulo Bento has been appointed as the new coach of Portugal.

The former Portugal international, who replaces the sacked Carlos Queiroz, has signed a deal through to July 2012.

The 41-year-old, who won 35 caps for his country, will be officially presented at a press conference at the headquarters of the Portuguese football federation tomorrow.

Bento will be assisted in the role by Leonel Pontes, while Joao Aroso has been appointed as physio and Ricardo Peres named as goalkeeper coach.

The management team is the same that worked under Bento during his time in charge at Sporting Lisbon between 2005 and 2009.

"Paulo Bento and other technical team signed a deal until July 2012 and will be presented at a press conference scheduled for Wednesday, September 22 at 12.00, at the headquarters of the FPF," read a statement on federation website www.fpf.pt. Bento represented Sporting Lisbon and Benfica in a 17-year playing career, and also appeared for his country at Euro 2000 and World Cup 2002.

The appointment comes less than a fortnight after the FPF dismissed Queiroz due to off-field issues and the team's poor performance in their opening Euro 2012 qualifiers.

Queiroz had been serving a six-month ban for his alleged misbehaviour during an anti-doping testing session before the World Cup, and was sacked two days after Portugal suffered a surprise 1-0 defeat at the hands of Norway in their latest qualifying match.

Portugal were also held to a 4-4 draw by Cyprus in their opening qualifier. Agostinho Oliveira deputised for Queiroz in those matches, with the stand-in coach presiding over the country's worst start to a qualifying campaign since 1996. Portugal are second from bottom in Group H and already trail leaders Norway by five points.

Bento will bid to get Portugal's campaign back on track with victory in their next Euro 2012 qualifier at home to Denmark on October 8 before playing Iceland in Reykjavik four days later.