Tokyo, March 12 (IANS): Vahid Halilhodzic was on Thursday named the new football coach of Japan's national team in place of Mexican Javier Aguirre, who was sacked last month after Japan's early exit from the Asian Cup.

The 62-year-old Bosnian led Algeria to the knock-out stages of the World Cup for the first time last year and won the trust of the Japan Football Association's (JFA), reports Xinhua.

Aguirre stepped down after Japan's Asian Cup quarterfinal defeat in January.

Halilhodzic will earn an estimated annual salary of 2 million euros (2.27 million US dollars) through to the 2018 Russia World Cup after guiding Algeria to the last 16 in Brazil.

Japan were knocked out of the group stage at the 2014 World Cup under Italian Alberto Zaccheroni and their Asian Cup journey was embarrassed in last-eight defeat to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on penalties in Sydney.

Halilhodzic is scheduled to arrive in Japan on Friday in time for this month's home friendlies against Tunisia on March 27 and Uzbekistan four days later.