Villas-Boas takes Tottenham helm

André Villas-Boas has been appointed the new head coach of Tottenham Hotspur FC.

Villas-Boas has signed a three-year contract to succeed Harry Redknapp, who left earlier in the summer after leading the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League quarter-finalists to fourth place in the Premier League. Despite that Spurs will begin next season in the UEFA Europa League group stage due to Chelsea FC's UEFA Champions League victory and finish outside the English top four – Villas-Boas having managed the Blues up to early March.

The Portuguese coach, who coached the British Virgin Islands in his early 20s and was a long-time assistant to José Mourinho at several clubs, took his first senior role at Associação Académica de Coimbra in 2009 before switching to FC Porto for 2010/11. In that season, he helped the club to the Portuguese double, remaining unbeaten in the Liga, and topped that by winning the UEFA Europa League, at the age of 33 the youngest coach ever to lift a continental trophy. Villas-Boas then moved to Chelsea for what proved an eight-and-a-half month spell at the helm.

"Tottenham Hotspur are a great club with a strong tradition and fantastic support, both at home and throughout the world," Villas-Boas said. "I feel privileged to be its coach. For me, this is one of the most exciting coaching positions in the Premier League."

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy added: "I am delighted that André has agreed to become our new head coach. He has an outstanding reputation for his technical knowledge of the game and for creating well-organised teams capable of playing football in an attractive and attacking style."