The Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) has announced the appointment of Sergio Lopez as head coach of the national team on Tuesday afternoon.

The Spaniard is believed to have signed a five-year contract. He will start work on Jan 1 next year.

Lopez is currently the head coach and aquatics director at The Bolles School in Florida, where he groomed Singapore swimmer Joseph Schooling into an Asian Games champion and winning Singapore's first-ever Commonwealth Games swimming medal in Glasgow in July.

The 46-year-old, who has an Olympic bronze medal (200m breaststroke) from the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, will also take on an advisory role at the Singapore Sports Institute's (SSI) coaching academy to develop elite level coaches.

Lopez said: "I want to thank the SSA and the SSI for believing in me and giving me this chance to lead Singapore swimming. The ultimate goal is to establish Singapore swimming as one of the top in the world over the next five years."