Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Martin Jol has been appointed as the new head coach of Hamburger SV from the beginning of next season.

The Dutchman, who was unceremoniously dumped by the north London side last autumn and replaced by Sevilla boss Juande Ramos, will be unveiled to the German press next week.

Jol, 52, will succeed countryman Huub Stevens and take charge of first-team affairs from the start of the 2008/09 Bundesliga season.

Stevens is keen to return to the Netherlands in order to be closer to his family, a statement from HSV explained.

"We are sure that we have appointed the right coach for HSV," said club boss Bernd Hoffmann.

And sporting director Dietmar Beiersdorfer added: "We are looking forward to working with Martin Jol."

Zeljko Petrovic, the former coach of Dutch second division club RKC Waalwijk, has been appointed as assistant manager to Jol, who was formerly in charge of Spurs for three seasons between 2004 and 2007.

During the 2005/06 season he led the Lilywhites to within one win of a place in the Champions League - eventually finishing fifth after being overtaken by local rivals Arsenal on the final day of the season.

The following year Spurs also achieved a fifth-place finish, prompting the board to make additional funds available for transfers and hopefully finance a push into the top four in 2007/08.

However, a poor start to the campaign led to widespread speculation over Jol's future and it emerged during the side's 2-1 Uefa Cup home defeat to Getafe in September that the Dutchman had been sacked by the club and would step down after the final whistle.
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