Real Madrid great Fernando Hierro is the new coach of Real Oviedo, the second division club announced on Wednesday.

"(Hierro) has agreed with Oviedo for one season, with an option for one more," said an Oviedo statement.

It will be the 48-year-old's first appointment as a head coach, although he spent a season as the assistant to Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid in 2014/15.

"I'm very excited by the project that Real Oviedo have offered me," said Hierro, a former centre back and defensive midfielder.

His other roles since hanging up his boots in 2005 after a season at Bolton Wanderers in the English Premier League was as sports director at the Spanish Football Federation from 2007 to 2011, after which he spent a season as general manager at Malaga.

He played 89 times for Spain and won the Champions League three times with Madrid.