Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola was named West Ham manager Thursday in place of Alan Curbishley who resigned last week.
''I'll give my all, it's a great opportunity for me. I'm happy and honoured to get this chance,'' Zola, 42, told the press after signing a three-year deal.
The Italy under-21 coach beat out ex-Italy manager Roberto Donadoni and ex-Hibernian manager John Collins to get the job Curbishley left over differences with the owners.
''I spent wonderful years at Chelsea, which I will never forget, but this is a different experience. I'm a coach now and I'll do everything I can,'' said Zola, whose first game is against West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League on Saturday.
Zola, who was made an Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2004, has remained one of the most popular Italian soccer figures in England, five years after the end of his amazing seven-year stint at Chelsea.
The diminutive Sardinian scored 89 goals in 249 games for Chelsea between 1996 and 2003.
A 2007 fanzine poll voted him the best Chelsea player of the 1990s.
Famed for his dribbling skills, shot with both feet and dead-ball ability, he is also held to be one of the best foreign players ever to play in the Premiership.
Zola started off at Napoli where he was understudy to legendary Argentinian Diego Maradona before moving first to Parma under Carlo Ancelotti and then on to Chelsea under ex-Italy team-mate Gianluca Vialli.
He was voted Football Writers' Player of the Year in 1997 - the only player ever to win the accolade without playing a full season in the English league and the first Chelsea player to win it.
Zola played 35 times for Italy between 1991 and 1997, scoring ten goals.
After ending his playing days at his home-town club Cagliari, Zola started his coaching career in 2006 as assistant to Italy under-21 coach Pierluigi Casiraghi, a former Chelsea team-mate.
The duo led the 'Azzurrini' to a spot at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing where they reached the quarter-finals before being defeated 3-2 by Belgium.
