FP Sport Promotion is delighted to announce the third succesful placement of a German coach in the Middle East after Winfried "Winni" Schäfer (Al Ahli Dubai) and Bernd Krauss (Baniyas Abu Dhabi). Former German international Hans Peter Briegel has taken over the coaching reins of the Bahrain national soccer team from 1st of July 2006. The Bahrain Football Association (BFA) secured the services of the 51-year-old former defender on basis of a two-year contract. Briegel replaces Luka Peruzovic of Belgium who departed two months ago after being in-charge since June last year. Hans-Peter Briegel was head coach of the Albanian national team until his resignation on May 9 due to contractual disagreement with the Albanian Football Federation. Albania improved considerably under the German, delighting fans with victories against Russia and European champions Greece. Briegel will become Bahrain's fifth coach since 2000 when the Kingdom's soccer rating started to flourish under their German coach Wolfgang Sidka who led the team to a place in the 2002 World Cup final qualifying round after a memorable 1-0 victory over Kuwait in Kuwait City.