Zahoui led The Elephants to a 1-0 victory over Italy

Francois Zahoui has been named successor to Sven-Goran Eriksson as coach of Ivory Coast.

The 48-year-old Ivorian has been in temporary charge of the team and led them to a 1-0 win over Italy in a friendly two weeks ago.

Sven-Goran Eriksson who took the team to the World Cup in South Africa was unable to agree terms for a new deal with the Ivorian Football Association.

Zahoui who has limited coaching experience, has signed a two year deal.

Earlier this month, the Ivorian FA offered the post to French coach Gerard Gili, who turned down the approach.

Several senior members of the Elephants including Salomon Kalou and Didier Zokora, had told the BBC they were keen to see Eriksson remain in the post but were aware that his financial demands might be too much for their FA to fulfil.

They also said they were impressed with Zahoui's handling of the team for the game against Italy.

Zahoui for his part has limited coaching experience.

He has coached the Ivorians' under-20 national side and was briefly at Abidjan club Africa Sports as well as Toulon in France and is now tasked with ensuring the Elephants qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations which will be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

The Ivorians host Rwanda on 5 September in the first of their Group H qualifiers for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

The group also includes Benin and Burundi.

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