Football: All Whites set to announce surprise new coach Fritz Schmid

Swiss Fritz Schmid is expected to be announced as the new All Whites coach on Friday. Photo / Youtube

New Zealand Football are set to spring a surprise with the appointment of the All Whites coach.

The Herald understands that Swiss Fritz Schmid will be announced as the new man in charge of the national side, ending the quest to find Anthony Hudson's successor.

The 58-year-old Schmid has decades of experience in football, but limited time as a head coach.

His most recent job was with the Asian Football Confederation, and before that he spent three years as technical director of Malaysia.

Most of his career has been as an assistant.

He worked as an assistant coach of the Austrian national team for two years (2011-2013) and before that had a seven-year stint at FC Basel, under Christian Gross, which did coincide with one of the most successful spells in Basel's history.

Schmid was also assistant under Gross at Spurs, though their tenure only lasted 10 games of the 1997/1998 English Premier League season.

His last stint as a head coach came at the turn of the century when he managed Swiss club FC Kriens for four months between July and November 2001.

He also had two spells as manager of Racing Zurich, first taking the reins between 1981 and 1984 and then returning for another three years between 1991 and 1994.

Schmid would be well known to new NZF technical director Andreas Heraf, as they were both at the Austrian Federation for two years.

He also has all the right qualifications, including the UEFA Pro Licence, which NZF have repeatedly said is an important factor in the decision process.

Schmid speaks German, French and English, and his personal website states he has been a coaching instructor for FIFA and UEFA for almost three decades.

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