LONDON — Sam Allardyce has been hired as England’s new national team manager, following the team’s embarrassing European Championship showing under Roy Hodgson.
The English Football Association says Friday that Allardyce signed a two-year contract after securing his release from Premier League club Sunderland.
Allardyce takes over one of football’s most high-profile and challenging jobs after a 25-year management career that yielded no major trophies but plaudits for over-achieving with modest teams.
The 61-year-old Allardyce, like Hodgson, was never selected by England during his playing career.
Hodgson’s hopes of extending his four-year stint with England were dashed when its Euro 2016 campaign ended in June with a humbling loss to Iceland in the round of 16.
Allardyce’s immediate priority is taking England to the 2018 World Cup, with qualifying starting in September.
