Uruguayan Jose Daniel Carreno was Wednesday named as new coach of Qatar, the host nation of the 2022 World Cup.

Carreno, who trained Qatari club Al Arabi SC in 2014, takes over from Algerian Djamel Belmadi, who had been in charge from March 2014 until last week when his departure was announced.

The first challenge awaiting the 52-year-old Carreno, widely known as "El Crespo" (The curly one), will be helping Qatar qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

As a player Carreno spent most of his career at Uruguayan club Montevideo Wanderers, having also turned out for French outfit Lens for three seasons.

As a coach, he has trained teams in Ecuador, Colombia and Chile, and before Al Arabi had been in charge of Al Nassr in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

Qualification for Russia could help lift Qatar's tarnished sporting reputation, which has suffered badly through claims of corruption and human rights abuses over its own tournament to be hosted in seven years' time.