German Toppmoeller wants to take Georgia to Euro 2008

Georgia's new national coach Klaus Toppmoeller hopes to lead the team that failed to qualify for the World Cup finals in Germany to Euro 2008.

"My main gold is to lead Georgia to the finals of Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria," Toppmoeller told Germany's SID sport news agency.

"I believe one can get more out of this team with players like Levan Kobiashvili at Schalke 04 and Kakha Kaladze of Milan."

Toppmoeller, Germany's coach of the year in 2002 for taking Bayer Leverkusen to the Champions League final, had been out of work since being fired by Hamburg over a year ago.

"I'm itching to get back to work," Toppmoeller said.

"Soccer is my life. It's like a drug. I'm really looking forward to my new job, a new challenge, my first job abroad."

"The friendliness and warmth of the people (in Georgia) is fantastic. The money was not important," added Toppmoeller who said he had talked with clubs in Spain, Portugal, Turkey, England and France in the last year.

The 54-year-old German was named as a replacement for caretaker coach Gaioz Darsadze by the Georgian soccer federation on Sunday.

Darsadze quit after a poor World Cup qualifying campaign in which the Georgians finished second from bottom in Group Two. He had taken over from Alain Giresse who was sacked in July.