Real chairman Ramon Calderon unveiled Schuster, 47, at a pre-lunchtime news conference amid media reports the German had agreed to pay up 480,000 euros (650,000 dollars) to get out of his contract at Getafe, the modest outfit from the suburbs he led to the Spanish Cup final last season.

"It's a very happy day for me. A great opportunity. If there are three or four great teams in the world one is Real Madrid," said Schuster, clad in smart open neck sky blue shirt and dark blue jacket.

"I am sure things will go just perfectly," he added, holding up a white Real shirt with "Schuster 1" emblazoned on the back.

Calderon, who thanked Schuster in passable German for agreeing to be the new man in charge of the club which has won a record nine European Cups, said a new era had begun with the arrival of the new coach who personified 'madridismo' values including courage and passion, as well as ability.

"We have had the luck to be able to sign a person who possesses all these qualities. He was a great player and is a great coach and above all is an excellent person. Schuster needs no presentation.

"Real Madrid is more than just a team which wins titles. It has to set an example," Calderon added in welcoming "one of the most brilliant players the club ever had."

Real sacked Capello on June 28, even though he had led the club by a whisker to a record 30th league title barely ten days earlier.

Capello had performed a similar feat a decade earlier in his first spell with the club, only to leave of his own accord.

After Capello left the first time, in 1997, Real appointed Jupp Heynckes for the club's first German coach and now have turned teutonic again, having also just landed German international defender Cristoph Metzelder.

Heynckes won the Champions League in 1998, but that was not enough for a club that has since ditched no less than nine coaches.

Now it falls to Schuster, who comes to the helm after two years establishing Getafe as a solid top flight side, to prove his mettle.

Nicknamed "The Blond Angel," Schuster served Real with distinction as a player, winning the league title in 1989 and 1990 before surprisingly heading across the city to Atletico Madrid.

Between 1980 and 1988 he had starred for Barcelona, with whom he also won the Spanish league title

In all, in 13 years playing in Spain, Schuster won three league crowns and six Spanish Cups.

He also won the 1980 European Championship with Germany, but then quit international football after a row with the German Federation and the coaching staff.

Sporting director Pedja Mijatovic described Schuster as "a coach who can achieve the things we want" who would bring the club "much happiness in the years ahead.

"He is a coach who knows the house of Real well."

Schuster has yet to land honours as a coach following several stints in Spain and Germany with second division sides and Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, while last season his Getafe lost the Spanish Cup final to Sevilla after first eliminating Barcelona.

Real have won nine European Cups yet have rarely hesitated to chop and change the man on the bench.

Capello, despite his two short spells in charge, is the ninth-longest serving coach in the club's history by league matches served.

The all-time record-holder with 424 matches is the legendary Miguel Munoz, who won nine league titles after taking over in 1955 as well as a pair of European Cups having also won four leagues and two European titles as a player.

Only five men have managed to serve a century of league matches on the touchline with Real.

The last was Vicente Del Bosque, who won two league titles and two Champions Leagues but still got the boot in 2003, presaging a four-year trophy drought that Capello ended but to no personal avail.

Schuster may possess the cultural imprint of the club but he will be judged, and quickly, on how many titles he can put in the trophy cabinet.