Fomenko appointed Ukraine national team coach

Former Soviet footballer Mykhailo Fomenko has been appointed coach of the Ukraine national team.

Ukraine's football federation announced the appointment on Wednesday of Fomenko on a one-year contract with an option for another year.

The 64-year-old Fomenko replaces Oleg Blokhin, who resigned in September after failing to lead the team out of the group stage at the European Championship earlier this year. Ukraine co-hosted Euro 2012 with Poland.

A product of the Soviet football school, Fomenko was capped 24 times for the U.S.S.R. and was an integral part of the Dynamo Kiev team in the 1970's. Starting coaching in 1979, he guided Metalist Kharkiv among numerous other Ukrainian clubs.

Ukraine had previously approached former Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp and ex-England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson to lead the national team without success.