Shum at home with Alania

Third coach
The Russian-born Israeli will become Alania's third coach of the campaign, after Bakhva Tedeev and Edgar Gess both failed to lift the club's fortunes. Alania are 13th after 13 matches of the 2005 season, just three points above the relegation zone. Should all go well, Shum's contract includes a two-year extension option.

'Very excited'
Speaking to uefa.com, Shum said he was thrilled to return to the region where he grew up before his family emigrated to Israel when he was eight. "I went to visit the place where I was born, which is only 30km away [from Vladikavkaz], and was very excited," he said. "This club has great ambition and an excellent training complex as well as 20,000 fans for each match. I am looking forward to it."

Several honours
The 56-year-old has an impressive pedigree. At Maccabi Haifa FC, he was the first man to lead an Israeli club into the UEFA Champions League group stage, in the 2002/03 campaign. He also helped Panathinaikos FC to the Greek league-and-cup double in 2003/04, with his most recent assignment coming at Bulgarian team PFC Litex Lovech last term.

Zutautas to assist
Goalkeeping coach Aleksandr Yanovski will prepare Alania for Saturday's league game at FC Tom Tomsk before Shum takes charge next week ahead of the 9 July meeting with PFC CSKA Moskva. He will be assisted by Raimondas Zutautas, although it is not yet known when the former Lithuania captain will arrive at the club where he began his career, the 32-year-old having retired from playing this summer because of a knee injury.