Sweden's Marika Domanski-Lyfors will take over the Chinese women's soccer team after the all-star game to be staged in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province.

Domanski-Lyfors and the China Football Association¹ (CFA) last month signed a contract which will last until 2008, making her the first ever foreign coach for the Chinese women's national team.

But the team was still under guide of caretaker coach Wang Haiming since, giving the 47-year-old Swede enough time to take care of the business back home.

Domanski-Lyfors led Sweden to the 2003 World Cup final which they lost to Germany. She stepped down after nine years as Sweden's coach in 2005, but still worked for the Swedish Football Association and coaches the under-21 side.

The April 21 all-star game, which will be played between world-united team and World Cup hosts China, serves as a part of the women's World Cup drawing ceremony slated² for a day later.

Domanski-Lyfors, who will be watching the all-star game from the bench, was upbeat about the quick return to form of the so-called³ "Steel Roses".

"I'm very confident of achieving the task and the Chinese team has the potential," the Swede said of the former world runners-up upon her appointment last month.

"I watched their second-half against Sweden during the Algarve Cup. Although they lost 1-0, the players had some really good performances."

The team returned from Europe last month in disgrace⁴, having lost all four games in the annual Algarve Cup, including an embarrassing⁵ 4-1 fiasco to underdogs Iceland.

China will host the women's World Cup in September and it is the last major sporting event prior⁶ to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. China seeks to reverse⁷ a slide that has seen them fall to 11th place in the world rankings.

Domanski-Lyfors will be bound to work under huge pressure after Chinese sports officials set the squad a minimum target of a semi-final finish at the showpiece competition