The former Tunisia head coach announced his role on social media, having arrived in Damascus on Sunday to discuss terms with the Syria FA.

“I’m glad to be assigned as head coach of the Syria national team and happy with the trust of the Syria Football Association,” said Maâloul in his Tweet. “Our main target will be to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar 2022.”

“I was 13 then – still just a kid – and I remember being out with my friends, dancing on the streets until the morning,” he told FIFA.com.

“Everyone knows that Iraqis haven’t had it easy in recent times and, at that point, people were usually scared to go out at night. But when we won the Asian Cup, everyone went out on the streets – and it felt like everyone stuck together more after that point. It really meant a lot. The people back home all still talk about that team now.”

Iran's campaign suffered a setback when Team Melli lost back-to-back matches to Bahrain and Iraq, leaving them third in the Group C standings, although they have a match in hand.

The Becamex Binh Duong forward failed to find the back of the net in Vietnam's goalless draw against Thailand in the opener, but he showed a glimpse of his genius when he was on target in their 3-1 victory in Indonesia.

Then came his finest moment of the qualifying campaign thus far: he scored the lone goal against United Arab Emirates with the victory moving Vietnam to the top of Group G of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023, a group many anticipated to be tricky and too tough to call.

The much-decorated Croatian was unveiled as head coach last week, replacing Erwin Koeman, and Ivankovic said he was excited to be part of Oman's football project.

The 42-year-old, who succeeds Italian FIFA World Cup winner Marcello Lippi, also revealed that his initial contract is only until the middle of this year.

Li was named to the top job in Chinese football on Thursday, tasked with reviving their hopes of reaching the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Finals.

The Serbian replaces Bert van Marwijk, who was removed three weeks ago following UAE’s exit from the 2019 Gulf Cup.

Jovanović’s main task will be to steer UAE in the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

UAE, currently in fourth place, will take on Malaysia at home on March 26 in Group H before playing Indonesia away five days later. They will conclude their campaign against Thailand and Vietnam in June.