Rediff

London, Jun 12: Luiz Felipe Scolari will become Chelsea's new manager on July 1, the Premier League club said on Wednesday.

The Brazilian, currently in charge of Portugal at the Euro 2008 finals, takes over from Avram Grant who was sacked last month after less than a season at the helm.

"Felipe has great qualities. He is one of the world's top coaches with a record of success at country and club level, he gets the best out of a talented squad of players and his ambitions and expectations match ours. He was the outstanding choice," a statement on Chelsea's Web site (www.chelseafc.com) said.

"Out of respect for his current role as head coach of the Portuguese national team, 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."

The 59-year-old Scolari, who has coached several top clubs in Brazil [Images], won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 before taking over as Portugal coach in 2003.