Thursday, June 12 2008 -- Now this story has been doing the rounds in the European press for quite some time now and ultimately it has come to fruition. Premiership giants Chelsea have appointed the current Portugal manager Luiz Felipe Scolari as their new manager.

Scolari, or Big Phil, as he is popularly known, was heavily touted to take over the then vacant job at Chelsea just before the Euro 2008 finals commenced. His current contract with the Portguese national team ends at the end of this month with the wrapping up of the European championships and he has now been confirmed to take over the managerial responsibilities at Chelsea.

A statement on the club's official website on Wednesday read as follows:

"Chelsea Football Club is delighted to confirm that Luiz Felipe Scolari will be the club's new manager from July 1, 2008.

"Felipe has great qualities. He is one of the world's top coaches with a record of success at country and club level, he gets the best out of a talented squad of players and his ambitions and expectations match ours. He was the outstanding choice.

"Out of respect for his current role as Head Coach of the Portuguese national team, and to ensure minimum disruption to this work, there will be no further comment from Chelsea FC nor from Felipe about his new role until his employment with us commences."

Scolari stormed the footballing arean in 2002 when he led Brazil to a scintillating World Cup triumph. He then took over the coaching duty at Portugal and led them to the final of Euro 2004 and also guided them to the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup.

Scolari replaced Avram Grant at Chelsea and club ownwer Roman Abramovich would like him to win what the Russian oligarch has always wanted to win: the UEFA Champions League.