Advocaat handed South Korea post

Advocaat won two Scottish Premier League titles with Rangers in 1999 and 2000

Former Rangers boss Dick Advocaat has taken over as coach of South Korea.

The 58-year-old Dutchman resigned as head coach of the United Arab Emirates over the weekend.

He has signed a contract to coach South Korea until after the 2006 World Cup finals and replaces his compatriot Jo Bonfrere, who quit three weeks ago.

Lee Hoi-Taek, who is head of the Korean Football Association's technical committee, said: "We believe he is the best card for us."

Advocaat ended an unhappy six-month spell as Borussia Monchengladbach coach in April, having stepped down as boss of the Netherlands after the Euro 2004 finals.

That was his second spell as Dutch coach - after leading them to the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup in his first stint in charge.

He led Rangers to a domestic treble in 1998/99 and added a second SPL title in 2000.

South Korea have already qualified for the 2006 finals.

And as co-hosts with Japan in 2002 they became the first team from Asia to reach the World Cup semi-finals, with another Dutchman, Guus Hiddink, in charge of the team.

Bonfrere came under pressure to quit because of poor performances in recent matches, including last month's World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia, which ended in a 1-0 defeat.

Advocaat's first game in charge will be a home friendly against Iran on 12 October.