Zhang Jian has been named as the new head of the Chinese Football Association, the domestic soccer body, replacing Wei Di, who was dismissed earlier this month.

Zhang is the former director of the policy and regulation department of China's Gerneral Administration of Sport.

Wei, who took office at the CFA in early 2010, will now be in charge of Chinese car and motor sports.

Wei was dismissed as head of the CFA because of the national team's poor on-field performances. China's men's team, presently in 86th place in the Fifa rankings, failed to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic Games and the 2014 World Cup, while its youth and women's teams have also disappointed.

Despite that, Wei's exit still came as something of a shock, given his work to overcome a long-running corruption and match-fixing scandal in China's domestic leagues.

His predecessor Nan Yong had been sacked for accepting bribes and fixing matches

Sportcal