Former Netherlands boss, Guus Hiddink, has been appointed interim Chelsea manager until the end of the season following the sacking of Jose Mourinho.
The 69-year-old also managed the Blues on a temporary basis for the final three months of the 2008-09 campaign after the sacking of Brazilian Filipe Scolari.
Mourinho was sacked on Thursday with champions Chelsea 16th in the Premier League table, one point above the relegation zone.
Chelsea Russian owner, Roman Abramovich, said on Friday he did not want to sack the Portuguese but the situation at the club left him with no other choice.
A statement by the club confirming Hiddink’s appointment read: “The owner and the Board welcome back a coach with a wealth of top-level experience and success, including his previous spell with the club in 2009 when we lifted the FA Cup.
“Mr Abramovich and the Board believe that Guus has what it takes to get the best out of our talented squad.”
Hiddink said: “I am excited to return to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea is one of the biggest clubs in the world but is not where it should be at the moment. However, I am sure we can all turn this season around.
“I am looking forward to working with the players and staff at this great club and especially renewing my wonderful relationship with the Chelsea fans.’
The Dutchman will be at Stamford Bridge for Saturday’s match against Sunderland but Steve Holland will take control of team matters for the game alongside Eddie Newton, who will now take on the role of assistant first-team coach.
“It’s a fantastic appointment. This club needs an experienced manager and Guus Hiddink is that,” said Holland.
The club described Holland as “an important and influential member of the coaching staff since 2009, while Eddie is Chelsea through and through, having served us as a player and a coach, re-joining the club in 2012 and helping us win the Champions League.”
Hiddink took temporary charge of Chelsea in February 2009, losing just one league game as the club recovered from a poor first half of the season to finish third in the Premier League, guaranteeing Champions League football for the next campaign and signing off in style thanks to a 2-1 FA Cup win over Everton at Wembley.
That role was combined with being coach of Russia, one of six international posts he has held during a coaching career which has spanned three decades.
His first managerial job was in his homeland with PSV, a club he had represented during a 15-year playing career. As coach, he lifted three league titles and the European Cup in 1988. Three more followed during a second stint there between 2002 and 2006, with the intervening years seeing him coach in Turkey and Spain as well as lead the Dutch, South Korean and Australian national teams.
As South Korea coach, he led them to a stunning third place at the 2002 World Cup on home soil, one place better than with the Netherlands four years earlier.
Having taken the Russian job in 2006, Hiddink led them to the semi-finals of Euro 2008 before taking the reins at Chelsea on a temporary basis in early 2009. A 2-1 win at Aston Villa in his first game set the tone for the remainder of the season, and it took a last-minute Andres Iniesta strike on a controversial night to deny the Blues a place in the Champions League final.
His first stay in west London ended well, however, with the whole of Stamford Bridge singing his name following a final home game of the season and the fans unveiling a huge ‘thank you’ banner at Wembley prior to the FA Cup final, in which the club came from behind to win.
Since then, Hiddink has coached Turkey and the Netherlands, as well as spending 18 months at Anzhi Makhachkala in Russia, where he signed Willian from Shakhtar Donetsk.
Meanwhile, Chelsea chairman, Bruce Buck, has urged supporters to move on from Mourinho after taking an “anguishing” decision to sack their most successful manager again.
Buck, 69, was part of the 10-minute meeting along with director, Eugene Tenenbaum, in which Mourinho was dismissed by the club for a second time on Thursday.
American Buck took to his programme notes for the clash at Stamford Bridge to assure fans that what has been done “is in the best interests of the club”.
Buck said: “We have received many letters and emails from fans over the last few weeks expressing their variety of views.
“Although we cannot respond to every communication we appreciate you taking the time to contact us with your thoughts, and we read and considered them all.
“I can assure you it was not a decision we took lightly, nor was it a spur-of-the-moment decision. Mr Abramovich and the board anguished over it for some time.
“But the start we have made to the season has come as a major disappointment to the owner, the board and Chelsea fans everywhere, and I think it is fair to say nobody expected us to be in the position we are in.
“Please believe me when I say the decision was made for no reason other than to do what we believe is in the best interests of this club.
“We will not forget what Jose achieved here during two spells as manager. He has overseen some of our most famous triumphs and we will always have a huge amount of respect for him.”
“Now we have to look forward and, in order to make the most out of what remains of this campaign, we believed a managerial change was needed.
“There is still a great deal to play for – Premier League points, the FA Cup and the Champions League – and we want to give it everything in all those competitions.
“We are one of the biggest clubs in the world and we are determined as a collective unit to get back to where we should be. We cannot do that without you (the fans) being fully behind us. We need to be together going forward.”
