TEHRAN – Former Iran coach Carlos Queiroz has been appointed as new head coach of Colombia football team on Thursday.

The Portuguese coach has signed a four-year contract, and his first major task will be to lead Colombia at the June-July Copa America in Brazil.

Colombia is the fifth national side the former Real Madrid coach has led, three of which he took to the World Cup finals.

Queiroz coached South Africa in South Korea and Japan 2002, his native Portugal in South Africa 2010, and Iran at the last two tournaments in Brazil (2014) and Russia (2018).

He will be expected to help Colombia reach a third successive World Cup, in Qatar in 2022.

“My goal is to preserve the prestige, reputation and placement of the Colombian national team in the world and that will be my first priority," the former Manchester United assistant said at the federation's headquarters in Bogota.

"I want to thank all the fans in Colombia as well as the federation for putting their faith in me. I hope to do the job as it is supposed to be done," he added.

 Queiroz left Iran after he failed to bring an end to Team Melli’s 43-year title drought in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup in January.