China League One side Tianjin Quanjian has confirmed the appointment of the Italian football coach Fabio Cannavaro as the team's head coach on Wednesday.

The second-tier Chinese club hoped that the former team captain of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Italian football team will "lead the side powerfully to rebound from its current underperformance."

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Quanjian has been struggling in the league and currently sits in ninth place in the 16-team Division A standings after 11 rounds.

The former World Footballer of the Year arrived in Beijing on Thursday morning and is expected to take over the Tianjin side on Friday ahead of the 12th round.

The Italian coach will be replacing Vanderlei Luxemburgo, the former coach of the Brazilian national football team that won the South American National Championship.

Cannavaro was "eager to accept the invitation from Quanjian." The latter had believed in his return to China someday after having been sacked by the two-time Asian champions Guangzhou Evergrande last summer.

In November 2014, the former Serie A Defender of the Year was named coach of Guangzhou but the Chinese outfit fired the Italian coach in June last year, replacing him with Brazil's Felipe Scolari.

In his tenure with The Southern China Tigers, Cannavaro  registered 11 victories, six draws and six defeats in 23 matches.

After being sacked, Canvarro's services were hired by the Saudi Arabian outfit Al Nassr as a replacement for Jorge da Silva. The Italian coach revoked his contract with the Saudi Professional League club last February.

As a player, he was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 2006 and also won the Ballon d'Or award in the same year. Cannavaro was also inducted in the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2014.

The 42-year-old native of Naples will be inheriting a football team with a record of four wins, four draws and four losses.

TagsFabio Cannavaro, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, fifa, FIFA World Cup, Tianjian Quanjian, china league one, China Football, Tianjin Quanjian Fabio Cannavaro