BEIJING, Nov. 13 -- Sigurdur Ragnar Eyjolfsson from Iceland has replaced Frenchman Bruno Bini as the head coach of the Chinese national women's soccer team, the Chinese Football Association (CFA) announced here on Monday.
Sigurdur, 44, had been the manager of the Iceland national women's team from 2007 to 2013. During his rein, Iceland qualified for the European Championship for the first time in 2009 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament in 2013. He also directed the team to finish second in the Alcarve Cup in 2011.
Sigurdur came to China to coach the women's team of Jiangsu Suning FC this year before taking the reins of the national team.
The CFA said that Sun Wen, former national women's team captain, will be Sigurdur's assistant.
Sun, also 44, is still the top scorer in the Chinese women's soccer history, boasting 106 goals from 152 caps.
Meanwhile, the CFA spoke highly of Bini's work. The Frenchman became China coach in September 2017. He led the team to stun the United States 1-0 at the end of 2017, ending the world champions' 104-game unbeaten record at home since 2004. In 2016, the Chinese team clinched the Olympic berth again after eight years, beating Vietnam, Japan and South Korea, drawing DPR Korea and Australia in the tough final round of the Asian qualification.
Bini will stay with the team, acting as a technical consultant, said the CFA.
Furthermore, the CFA decided to set up the reserves for the first team. The reserves, called Yellow Team, will be coached by Pei Encai who had ever directed the national women's squad in 2005.
The first team, called Red Team, will target a series of international tournaments, the Tokyo Olympics in particular, the CFA said.