Former All-Ireland winning manager Jim McGuinness to take up soccer coaching role

Former Donegal senior football manager Jim McGuinness has accepted a position as assistant coach with a Chinese soccer club.

It's been reported this morning that he is taking up the post with Beijing Sinobo Guoan.

Roger Schmidt, a former manager with German side Beyer Leverkusen, became the manager of the Chinese clun earlier this month.

And now McGuinness is coming on board.

The Donegal man, who guided his native county to success in the All-Ireland Football Championship in 2012, had been part of the coaching staff at Glasgow Celtic.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” he told the Irish Times. “It’s a level up for me and a great honour to be asked. Roger is a really prestigious European coach and just to be part of his management team is a great privilege. I also feel that it’s great timing in terms of taking the next step forward in my own coaching career.

McGuinness will take up his new role on Monday.

He has agreed a two-and-a-half year contract.

McGuinness had met with the German on several occasions over the past two years after being invited to Leverkusen by one of the club psychologists he met in Bilbao two summers ago, the Irish Times reported.