Chelsea have named Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari as their new manager in succession to Avram Grant.
Scolari, who is currently in charge of the Portuguese side at Euro 2008, will take over at Stamford Bridge on 1 July.
"Felipe has great qualities. He is one of the world's top coaches with a record of success at country and club level," Chelsea said in a statement.
Carlo Ancelotti, Mark Hughes and Roberto Mancini had also been linked with the job.
Chelsea added: "He gets the best out of a talented squad of players and his ambitions and expectations match ours. He was the outstanding choice.
"Out of respect for his current role and to ensure minimum disruption to this work there will be no further comment from Chelsea nor from Felipe about his new role until his employment with us commences."
Scolari, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 before leading Portugal to the final of Euro 2004, was believed to be in the running to become England manager in 2006.
He was reportedly put off the job because of fears of media intrusion, but, with his contract with the Portuguese FA due to expire on 29 June, he has taken the opportunity to try his hand at management in the Premier League.
Chelsea parted company with Grant last month, despite the Israeli taking his team to the Champions League final and second spot in the Premier League.
And former Blues player Gavin Peacock believes Scolari could be the man to take Chelsea to the top of European football, despite not having managed a club in Europe before.
"You can't argue with his record," Peacock told BBC Sport. "If you're looking for someone with charisma and presence in the dressing room, then he is your man.
His teams play with flair so it fits in with what Chelsea say they have been looking for, but the everyday involvement, getting into the players minds is going to take time.
"I suspected that Scolari might be lined up when Chelsea signed Jose Bosingwa at the start of the summer and there was talk of Deco coming to the club."
However, he warned Scolari's lack of English could make things difficult for the Brazilian.
"My only question mark would be about his level of English. Does he speak it?" asked Peacock.
"Someone like the England manager Fabio Capello didn't speak it but he had time to learn and he has time between each England gathering, but Scolari will need to get his ideas across every day. It will be a challenge.
"As another example, (former Chelsea boss) Jose Mourinho, on his first trip away with the team for a pre-season friendly in the United States, sat on the plane with Joe Cole for two hours just getting to know him.
"Scolari will not be able to do that sort of thing."
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Scolari named as new Chelski boss
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