Wednesday 16 March 2016 14:21, UK
Harry Redknapp is to manage the Jordan national team for two World Cup qualifiers - at the same time as starting his mentoring role at Derby County.
Redknapp has confirmed he has agreed to look after Jordan for their qualifiers against Bangladesh and Australia later this month, as a favour to FIFA presidential election loser Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein.
The 69-year-old former Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham, Southampton and West Ham manager takes up his mentoring role at Derby on Wednesday.
He will help head coach Darren Wassall prepare for the Championship side's Midlands derby at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday - live on Sky Sports from 12pm - before flying out to the Middle East to join Jordan.
"It's going to be a tough couple of weeks, that's for sure," Redknapp told The Sun.
"I'm friends with Prince Ali and wanted him to take over from Sepp Blatter. He asked me if I'd manage the team for a couple of matches, and I agreed.
"I'll go to the Forest game and then go straight to London and fly to Jordan. It's a busy time but I've missed the buzz of being involved in football."
Prince Ali is head of the Jordanian FA, but lost the FIFA presidential election to Gianni Infantino last month.
Jordan, currently led by caretaker manager Abdullah Abu Zema, play Bangladesh in Amman on March 24 and the Socceroos in Sydney five days later.
The Jordanians trail Australia by two points in Group B in the second round of Asian qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, with the top two from each group going through to the third round, where four berths in Russia will be at stake.
Another former QPR manager, Ray Wilkins, last year led Jordan to the Asian Cup in Australia, where they were eliminated in the group stage.
Redknapp, who resigned as QPR boss in February last year, has agreed to help Derby until the end of the season as the fifth-placed club chase promotion to the Premier League.
He lives near County's chairman Mel Morris in Sandbanks, Dorset, and said: "Mel's a good man and Derby's a fantastic club which deserves to be in the Premier League with its fans and set-up. It's going to be exciting."
