Guus Hiddink's future has been at the centre of speculation for months

Hiddink formally signed a two-year contract on Friday that will run through to the end of Euro 2008.

"I'm glad that this is off my chest," said Dutchman Hiddink, who will coach Australia at the World Cup in Germany. "Everything has been sorted out."

Football Union of Russia chief Vitaly Mutko said: "We worked very hard to find a candidate for this position but we decided to go with Guus Hiddink."

Hiddink had been tipped to succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson, who will step down as England coach after the World Cup.

HIDDINK FACTFILE 1946 Born 8 Nov in Wisch, Netherlands 1982 Begins coaching career at De Graafschap 1984 Appointed assistant manager at PSV Eindhoven. Becomes manager in 1986 1986-90 PSV win Dutch league four times in a row and Dutch Cup three times 1988 Hiddink leads PSV to their first European Cup triumph 1995 Appointed Holland coach. Reaches quarter-finals of Euro 96, and World Cup 98 semis 1998 Takes over at Real Madrid. Wins World Club Cup 2001 Becomes South Korea national coach and leads them to 2002 World Cup semi-finals 2002 Returns to PSV 2005 Guides PSV to double and Champions League semis 22 July Takes over as Australia coach, leading them to 2006 World Cup qualification 9 April, 2006 Guides PSV to their 19th league title.

Mutko added: "Hiddink will be in Russia for a long time, conducting selection and the building and organisation of Russian soccer."

The Dutch coach, 59, said that he was looking forward to the task.

"I have been to Russia already to look at things and I already know that it will be fun to work there," added Hiddink.

"I will live in Amsterdam and fly to Russia whenever it's needed - that could be for a period of several weeks or just for a few days.

"They have some young players with a great future, as far as I can tell now."

Hiddink was in charge of Holland when they reached the last four at the 1998 World Cup and coached South Korea to the same stage four years later.

PSV wrap up Dutch title success

In addition to coaching Australia at the World Cup he is also in charge of PSV Eindhoven, who have just won the Dutch title for the 19th time.

Hiddink was previously in charge of PSV in the 1980s and the club has won six titles under Hiddink's control.

He has also coached Spanish teams Valencia, Real Madrid and Real Betis as well as Fenerbahce of Turkey.

Former Russia coach Yuri Syomin resigned in November - less than a year after taking charge of the team. Syomin left after Russia failed to qualify for the World Cup.