China extends Perrin's coach contract to 2018

(File photo of Perrin/Beijing Youth Daily)

Chinese Football Association (CFA) has finished the deal this week to extend Frenchman Alain Perrin's contract to 2018 on flexible terms, according to local media reports.

The estimated salary for Perrin and his two assistants will be around two million dollars annually, "Beijing Youth Daily" reported on Thursday.

Perrin coached Chinese team to reach the Asian Cup quarterfinals by collecting three victories in group stage in January, but were ultimately laid low in a 2-0 loss to the host Socceroos, the eventual winner of the tournament.

China's overall performance under Perrin's helm since March last year is impressive and the Frenchman's pragmatic style also plays a role in persuding CFA to bestow the contract extension.

Team China has played a total of 14 games, including 10 friendlies, with Perrin in charge, losing two games only -- 1-3 to Mali in friendly and 0-2 to Australia in Asian Cup -- winning seven of them.

After the renewed contract, Perrin needs to focus on a long run, steering Chinese team to fight for the 2018 Russian World Cup finals. A series of World Cup qualifiers await him towards the 2018 soccer gala and challenges remain ahead for the Frenchman as his tenure is relevant to team performance under the flexible terms, which are not disclosed specifically.

China is used to be obsessed with big-name coach like Spaniard Jose Antonio Camacho, Serb Ratomir Dujkovic and Dutchman Adrianus Haan, but those big shots just didn't work in China.

Perrin succeeded Camacho last year and was supposed to be a care-taker in the beginning. After a year's record, CFA gave him credential for a longer term after the Asian Cup campaign.

China has taken steps to improve its soccer performance after the country's central reform leading group, chaired by President Xi Jinping, approved a soccer reform plan, stressing the youth talent foster and grassroots education.

"More efforts should be made at the grassroots level to nurture young talents and to ensure the integration of professional clubs, school teams and amateur teams," said a statement from reform group this month.

Despite a domestic soccer league that offers foreign managers and players lucrative contracts, China's national team remains a lowly 82nd place, tied with Guatemala, in FIFA's latest global rankings.

China has reached the World Cup finals only once at the 2002 Korea/Japan tournament under the leadership of Serbian manager Bora Milutinovic.

Perrin took over as manager of Lyon in 2007 and had led the club to a seventh consecutive Ligue 1 title and also the French Cup in the season.