Former Republic of Ireland coach Mick McCarthy on Monday was named boss of Cypriot top-flight side APOEL in a surprise return to football.

Nicosia's APOEL, the island's record league title holders who have struggled this season, announced the signing of a 19-month contract with McCarthy until May 2022.

APOEL reached the last eight of the Champions League in 2011-2012 going out to Real Madrid.

McCarthy's assistant will be Terry Connor, who was with him at Wolves, Ipswich and Ireland.

"We welcome them both to APOEL and we hope they can immediately help the team return to good and effective performances to compete for its goals until the end, which is winning titles," the club said on its website.

The 62-year-old former Ireland international won promotion to the Premier League in charge of both Sunderland and Wolves.

He led Ireland to qualify for the 2002 World Cup with the team advancing from their group only to be eliminated by Spain in a penalty shootout.

McCarthy has been out of a job since leaving the Republic of Ireland in April and has not worked at club level since being sacked by Ipswich Town in 2018.

APOEL have made a poor start to the 2020-2021 Cypriot season, winning just two of their first six league games.

The club finished third in the table last term, earning a Europa League spot but were knocked out at the final play-off stage by Czech Republic's Slovan Liberec.

A run of four league games without a win proved the end for Greek coach Marinos Ouzounidis, the club0s 12th permanent coach since 2015.

The club are now languishing in 10th place from 14 outfits with only nine points after eight games.