Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Robbie Keane has become the new Ferencvaros manager.

The Republic of Ireland icon is the new manager of the Hungarian giants, replacing Pascal Jansen following his switch to MLS side New York City FC.

It is the 44-year-old Spurs favourite's second managerial role after leaving Maccabi Tel Aviv in June, 2024. He has joined the Hungary outfit in the midst of a title battle as they sit one-point off the pace-setters Puskas FC Academy.

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Ferencvaros have played on game fewer but have drew four of their opening 16, losing twice. There will be a taste of European football for Keane, too, with Ferencvaros set to return to competitive action against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League before hosting AZ Alkmaar as they look to book their place in the playoff stages for the knockouts.

"We announce the successor to Dutchman Pascal Jansen to lead our 35-time champion and 24-time cup winner team, as the 146-time national team player of the Republic of Ireland Robbie Keane has signed on Monday," the club said in a statement. "The new head coach arrived in Budapest on Sunday evening and will leave on Tuesday to join our team at the training camp in Spain."

Keane left his previous club Tel Aviv after leading them a league and cup double and after departing the club he spoke about remaining in the country amid the conflict in the Middle East. Speaking in November, he said: "Let’s make it clear, obviously there has been a lot of stuff going on. I resigned at the end of the season from my post at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

“When the war began, we left the country, but I had five staff, I had a lot of foreign players who relied on me as their coach. We were winning the league, hadn’t won it in three years, we were in Europe and doing very well.

"My analyst for example, he has got a mortgage, a family and kids he has to feed. The decision just to step away from something, it’s not just my decision, it’s everybody else’s decision, which was tough.

"What is happening is terrible and nobody wants to see it. Hopefully it ends very, very soon. But at the end of the day, I’m a football manager and my staff have got people to look after. I have got a duty of care.

"My analyst for example was at Middlesbrough for 12 years, for him to come with me to Israel, and then for me just to walk away from that and leave him and his family…you know… because you can’t just walk into a job. It’s difficult to walk into a job straight away after leaving a post for 12 years. He is just one example, I had other staff.

"I had players calling me, ‘please don’t leave coach, don’t leave, what you have done for this club’, so I made the decision to stay until the end of the season and walk away from a big contract, another year, possibly two more years. We made that decision as a group and as a staff.

"But to go and win the league and to win the double, nobody can ever take that away from me."