Guus Hiddink, center, PSV Eindhoven President Harry van Raaij, left, and Gerard Kleisterlee of Philips are all smiles after sealing a deal.

The international coaching merry-go-round continued as Guus Hiddink signed a contract with former club PSV Eindhoven and three Eastern European teams hired new people.

Russia hired Valery Gazzayev to replace Oleg Romantsev; Slovenia brought on Bojar Prasnikar for Srecko Katanec; and Poland added former star Zbigniew Boniek in place of Jerzy Engel.

Hiddink, who led co-host South Korea to the semifinals at the 2002 World Cup and became just the second man to lead two different countries to the final four, signed a four-year contract with his former club, The Associated Press reported.

All three European teams went into the World Cup with high expectations and in relatively weak groups, but none of the three survived the first round.

Hiddink, who also took the Netherlands to the semifinals four years ago in France, led PSV to the European Champions League in 1988 as well as three Dutch titles. He has also coached several other European clubs, including the Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid.

"We are proud to bring Guus back to where his glorious training career began," club chairman Harry van Raaij said. Hiddink will begin work on August 1 and said he was anxious to get started. "I've been out of Holland for 10 years, and I need to get into the program as quickly as possible," he said.

In Moscow, former CSKA Moscow coach Gazzayev will take over a team that lost to Japan and Belgium in the first round. The loss to Japan sparked a riot in Moscow in which two people died.

There had been growing calls in Russia to find a foreign coach for its national squad. Two Russian oil magnates even offered to pay up to US$1 million a year for a foreign coach for the team.

But Russian Football Union President Vyacheslav Koloskov said he was against hiring a foreign coach, according to ITAR-Tass news agency.

In Ljubljana, Slovenia, Prasnikar, considered one of the country's most talented coaches and a former national team coach, will replace Katanec. He led the national team in 1991-93 and briefly in 1998.

Slovenia, which made its World Cup debut this year, finished last in its group with Spain, Paraguay and South Africa.

Prasnikar, 49, has transformed Maribor, from northeastern Slovenia, into a team topping the national league and playing in qualification rounds for the Champions League.

On Monday, he told the state-run news agency STA that he has "reached an agreement" with the soccer federation to head the national team for four years.

In Warsaw, Boniek, considered by many to be the best Polish soccer player ever, said he accepted an offer to coach the national team. Boniek, 46, played in three World Cups, including the 1982 tourna-ment in Spain where Poland finished third. He played 80 games for Poland, scoring 24 goals. An international star in the 1980s, he played for Italian clubs Juventus and AS Roma.

In other coaching news, the head of French soccer's governing body said he hopes to name Roger Lemerre's replacement by July 20. Lemerre, who led France's catastrophic World Cup title defense, was fired last Friday after refu-sing to resign. Les Bleus were eliminated from the first round of the tournament without winning a game or scoring a goal.

In Tokyo, Japan is reportedly looking to hire Brazilian star Zico. The Japanese Football Association President Shunichiro Okano said that Zico was the only candidate for the coaching post of Japan's national team.

Other coach-less teams in the wake of the World Cup include China, Spain and Saudi Arabia. Portugal is also expected to part with its coach.

Nigeria coach Festus Onigbinde has denied reports that he will be replaced.

Terry Venables, who had spells in charge of England and Australia, is returning to club coaching with Leeds United which last month fired under-achieving David O'Leary.