Sacchi will be part of a team of "Olympic preparation" consultants, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said.

 

CONI wants Sacchi to find ways in boosting Italy's results in underperforming team sports such as the basketball and water polo.

 

The 63-year-old is one of football's most successful ever managers.

 

He led AC Milan to the Serie A title in 1988 and won consecutive European Cup victories in 1989 and 1990.

 

Sacchi, who never played the sport professionally and was a former shoe salesman, then took over Italy's national side and guided them at the World Cup in 1994 in the United States, narrowly being defeated by Brazil on penalties in the final.

 

He also had a spell at Real Madrid as director of football for a brief period in 2004-2005 before resigning.

 

Sacchi has been out of football since and now appears to be trying to reinvent himself in the same way that Sir Clive Woodward, the coach who guided England's rugby team to victory at the 2003 World Cup, has done as director of elite performance at the British Olympic Association.

 

Italy finished ninth in the overall medals table at the Olympics in Beijing last year with a total of 28 medals, including nine gold.

 

But they failed to make the expected impact in the team sports.

 

Their best performance came in the volleyball where the men reached the bronze medal play-off but were beaten 3-0 by Russia.

 

In the water polo the men, who have won the Olympic gold on three occasions, finished ninth and the women sixth.

 

Their men, meanwhile, were knocked out in the quarter-final of the football tournament, losing 3-2 to Belgium.

 

But the biggest disappointment was the men's basketball team, who, having won a silver medal in Athens in 2004, failed to even qualify for Beijing.