Javier Aguirre was named as Mexico coach for the second time, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) said.

Aguirre, who resigned at Atletico Madrid in February, became Mexico's fourth coach since the 2006 World Cup. He succeeds Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was sacked on Thursday.

"This appointment has the approval and the unconditional support of the general assembly of first division clubs and the committee of national teams," said the FMF in a statement.

The 50-year-old was previously in charge from 2001-02 and led Mexico to the last 16 of the World Cup in Japan and South Korea, where they lost to the United States.

Eriksson was fired after his team lost 3-1 in Honduras on Wednesday, their second defeat in three matches in the final stage of the CONCACAF zone's qualifying competition.

Mexico are fourth in the six-team table with three points from three games and have seven to play. They need to finish in the top three to qualify directly for the World Cup while fourth place would mean a two-legged play-off against the fifth team from South America.

Eriksson had been in charge for 10 months after replacing Hugo Sanchez, who himself lasted only 16 months. In between, Jesus Ramirez was at the helm for a two-legged World Cup preliminary round tie against Belize as a caretaker.

Coincidentally, Aguirre was previously appointed after Enrique Meza quit following a World Cup qualifying defeat by the same score against Honduras in the same stadium.

After Aguirre took over, Mexico won five of their remaining six qualifiers and drew the other to scrape into the 2002 finals, making sure of their place with a 3-0 win over Honduras in their final game.

He finished with a record of 17 wins, four draws and six defeats in 27 games.