China's head coach Alain Perrin of France watches his team train ahead of their Asian Cup quarterfinals match against Australia in Brisbane, Jan. 21, 2015. (Photo : REUTERS)
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) has extended Frenchman Alain Perrin's contract to coach the Chinese national team up to 2018 at around 2 million dollars annually.
The amount also covers the salaries for Perrin's two assistants.
Despite a domestic soccer league that offers foreign managers and players lucrative contracts, China's national team remains a lowly 82nd placer, tied with Guatemala, in FIFA's latest global rankings.
China has hired big-name coaches like Spain's Jose Antonio Camacho, Serbia's Ratomir Dujkovic and Netherland's Adrianus Haan, but the team failed to deliver.
Perrin, a Frenchman, succeeded Camacho last year and led the Chinese team to the Asian Cup quarterfinals by collecting three victories in group stage.
The team lost 2-0 loss to the host, Australia's Socceroos, the eventual winner of the tournament.
China is working to improve its soccer performance with a soccer reform plan intitiated by President Xi Jinping, with emphasis on tapping young talent and grassroots education.
Under Perrin's guidance since March last year, China's overall performance is relatively impressive.
The Chinese national soccer team has played 14 games, including 10 friendlies, with Perrin in charge, losing two games and winning seven.
Among the more urgent tasks that Perrin needs to focus on is steering the Chinese team to a respectable finish in the 2018 Russian World Cup.
China has reached the World Cup finals only once, which came at the 2002 Korea/Japan tournament, then under Serbian manager Bora Milutinovic.
Perrin led Lyon to its seventh consecutive Ligue 1 titles and also to the French Cup title.
