FORMER Forest boss Colin Calderwood is back in football - as national coach of the Faroe Islands.

He replaces coach Jógvan Martin Olsen, who has stepped down after three years in charge. Previous coaches include Henrik Larsen and Allan Simonsen.

Calderwood, who had been linked with a coaching job at Newcastle, takes charge ahead of a friendly with Iceland in March.

Calderwood has experience of playing in the Faroes – two of his 36 Scottish caps were won against them.

Calderwood was a apparently popular choice. A poll run by a local newspaper saw him pick up 62 per cent of the votes, ahead of the Dane Flemming Serritslew and Serbian coach Luka Kostic.

Calderwood certainly has a big job on his hands. The Faroe Islands are ranked 185th in the world and have never reached the finals of any major international competition.

Although the national team has been in existence since 1930, neither FIFA nor the Faroese FA considers matches before 1988 as official.

Faroe Islands pulled one of the biggest upsets in footballing history when they beat Austria 1-0 in their first competitive international on September 12, 1990. The game, a Euro 92 qualifier, was played in Sweden because there were no grass fields on the Islands.

Last October they drew 1-1 with Austria in a World Cup qualifier - their first qualifying point for four years.

The Tórsvøllur National Stadium was completed in 2000. Its capacity is only 6,000.