Leicester City have confirmed the appointment of former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson as the club's new manager on a two-year contract.

The Championship club sacked Paulo Sousa on Friday and have moved quickly to fill the vacancy by bringing in Eriksson.

Eriksson was in the stands on Saturday to watch Leicester move off the bottom of the table thanks to a 3-1 victory over Scunthorpe United at the Walkers Stadium.

The ex-Lazio and Manchester City manager has now been confirmed as Sousa's successor and he is looking forward to the challenge.

"I am extremely pleased to be the new manager of Leicester City," Eriksson told the club's official website.

"This challenge provides great motivation for me and I look forward to working with the players, meeting the supporters and hopefully achieving great success for Leicester City.

"Leicester is a club with a rich heritage and is a proud sporting city.

"I hope that together we can look forward to adding to that history with the accomplishments I plan to make."

Eriksson's first game will be against the Thailand national team next Saturday before his first competitive match on 16 October when former Foxes boss Nigel Pearson brings Hull City to the Walkers Stadium.

Leicester owner Aiyawatt Raksriaksorn said: "We are delighted to welcome Sven to Leicester City Football Club. This is a great day for everyone associated with the club and we are very proud to have Sven as our new manager.

"In Sven, we have a world-class leader for our team and for our club. His record within the game is tremendous and he has the ability, knowledge and pedigree to take this club forward and in to the Premier League."

Foxes chairman Milan Mandaric added: "This is another example of the great support shown by our new owners. Their ambition for the club has been emphasised with this landmark appointment of Sven as the new manager."

Leicester represents Eriksson's sixth destination in just four years after he parted ways with the Football Association in 2006.

He spent just seven months at Notts County as director of football before calling time on his spell at Meadow Lane last season, coming after being sacked as Mexico national team boss and Manchester City manager in less than a year.

The Swede's most recent position was a short-term position in charge of Ivory Coast at this summer's World Cup as they failed to reach the knockout stages of the tournament. But Sven, who also becomes Leicester's seventh manager since chairman Milan Mandaric took over in 2007, insists he is at the club with the long-term aim of guiding them back to the Barclays Premier League.

Asked whether he will be here for some time, Sven replied: "Yes, absolutely, I signed a contract yesterday for two years, I hope it will be longer.

"In football of course you have to get results and I know what I want here, the owners and chairman want Premier League football. I didn't sign because I want to be a manager in the Championship.

"I have the appetite for this still otherwise I wouldn't have signed a contract. If the club didn't have any ambitions I wouldn't be interested, the target is very clear - Premier League."

He added: "The Premier League will hopefully happen this year, if it doesn't then the year after. We have to work with the players towards that."

Eriksson's last venture in the east midlands fell flat when he soon resigned from his position as director of football at Notts County when Middle Eastern consortium Munto's ambitious five-year plan collapsed financially, leaving embarrassment for all involved.

Leicester were recently taken over by a Thai consortium, a deal which chairman Milan Mandaric hopes to be ratified by the Football League without any problems next week.

And Eriksson, wiser this time around, insists he is not worried by a potential case of dejà vu having carried out a much sterner evaluation of the situation at hand.

"I'm not frightened, this is a real project," he said. "As you know Notts County, after six months, it was not real. That was a pity. This is real though. I learned there that I want to be on the pitch, not sitting in meetings all day."

He added: "I worked with Thai people of course (at Manchester City). I've only worked with them (here) for a few days but so far I like them very much."

Eriksson is regularly linked with most Premier League jobs that arise nowadays, with his name thrown into the hat for the recent vacant positions at Liverpool and Aston Villa.

But Sven played down speculation he was interviewed for the roles, saying: "That was only rumours, every time there is a job there are a lot of agents phoning around and I am mentioned."

Eriksson, who is yet to decide whether assistant Tord Grip will join him at the Walkers Stadium, flies to Thailand with Leicester's team tomorrow for a tour which includes a friendly against the Thai national team.