Mexico City  - Mexican Javier Aguirre was Friday designated to become Mexico's new football coach, replacing the Swede, Sven- Goran Eriksson.

Aguirre - the former coach of La Liga clubs Osasuna and Atletico Madrid, among others - coached Mexico for the 2002 World Cup.

In a brief statement the Mexican Football Federation said Aguirre, 50, would be formally presented to the media as coach on April 16.

According to Mexican media, the new coach - who was sacked by Atletico Madrid in February - only accepted the position after ensuring that he would get complete freedom in issues such as designating aides and choosing dates and teams for friendly matches.

Eriksson, who was sacked Thursday, has good reason not to get too upset about the setback - he earned some 7 million dollars in 10 months with the national team, the Mexican sports daily Record reported Friday.

"Sven-Goran Eriksson became the most costly investment in the history of Mexican football," the report said.

The amount comes from adding 2.9 million dollars that the Swede got as his salary from June 2008 and the 4.1 million dollars that the Mexican Football Federation will have to pay him for the remaining 16 months of his contract, although he will no longer hold the position in that period.

Eriksson had made it clear that he was very happy in Mexico and did not plan to resign.

However, a 3-1 defeat to Honduras late Wednesday, which put the team's qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa at risk, led Mexican football officials to terminate his contract.

Mexico played 13 games under the former England manager, which would average some 583,460 dollars per match. (dpa)