King to become Republic of Ireland boss

The 57-year-old will fill the gap left by Giovanni Trapattoni's departure at the start of September following a string of poor results while the search for a permanent replacement continues.

Ireland's FIFA World Cup qualification hopes were effectively ended by consecutive defeats against Sweden and Austria earlier this month, and the Italian manager's five-year reign came to an end by mutual consent.

The FAI confirmed that Ray Houghton and Ruud Dokter would "carry out a comprehensive assessment of (the) market" to find a new boss ahead of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.

King took charge of the Under-21s in 2010 and has guided them to a number of good results this year, including a 3-0 win over Holland in February.