Juergen Klinsmann set winning the 2006 World Cup on home soil as his goal after officially taking charge of Germany's national team on Thursday.
"This is a great honour and an emotional moment for me," said the former Germany captain, who was presented as Rudi Voeller's successor at a news conference in Frankfurt.
"I know the fans in our country all have a dream, which is to win the World Cup," he added. "This is also my goal. I believe we have the potential to make it despite all the problems."
The German Football Association (DFB) had struggled for weeks to replace Voeller, who stepped down last month after his team failed to survive the group stage at Euro 2004.
Another former Germany striker Oliver Bierhoff will assist Klinsmann in his mission to lift the troubled heavyweights out of their crisis, as team manager.
The 36-year-old Bierhoff, who played alongside Klinsmann and was also a Germany captain, will notably deal with sponsors and the media.
"I will take care of all the aspects outside the sporting matters," said Bierhoff. "Obviously, I'll stand next to Juergen if he needs advice but I will not interfere in selection matters."
Klinsmann and Bierhoff are to sign contracts running until after the 2006 finals.
Klinsmann, who turns 40 on Friday, scored 47 goals in 108 games for his country and was a member of West Germany's 1990 World Cup-winning team.
NO EXPERIENCE
The former Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur striker, who ended his playing career after the 1998 World Cup finals in France, has a training licence but no coaching experience.
An assistant coach will be named in the next few days, said DFB president Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder.
The ruling body had wanted Holger Osieck, who was head coach Franz Beckenbauer's assistant during the 1990 World Cup campaign, to take that job but the 55-year-old former Canada coach turned it down.
Osieck and Klinsmann decided they could not work together after talks on Tuesday in the latest twist in a saga to find a new leadership that has seriously damaged the DFB's image.
Neither man would immediately say why they had fallen out but it is believed Osieck did not share Klinsmann's views on how the team should be run.
Ralf Rangnick and Joachim Loew, both former VfB Stuttgart coaches, have expressed an interest in working with Klinsmann and are the two favourites to step in for Osieck.
Klinsmann has called for new structures and methods, saying not only the team but also the DFB as a whole need an entirely different approach.
A long-time critic of the DFB, Klinsmann, who has been living in the United States and working in sports marketing since hanging up his boots, was considered for the top job after Ottmar Hitzfeld and Otto Rehhagel declined to take it.
Klinsmann has already faced criticism for not having any coaching credentials and for having said he intended to continue living in California. His first test is a friendly against Austria on August 18 in Vienna.
