Diego Maradona's faint hopes of returning to his role as Argentina coach have ended with the appointment of Sergio Batista as his replacement on a permanent basis.

Batista, 47, had been in charge in a caretaker basis since Maradona's contract was not renewed following the World Cup finals in South Africa.

"This is a big responsibility. I'm looking forward to carrying on working the way we've been doing," he said.

"I had faith in myself. When you take up a coaching role at a team, you set yourself goals and the biggest one is the national team.

"I reached this quite early, but I don't want to waste this chance. The biggest goal is getting to the World Cup and winning it."

Batista has overseen three friendlies, including an impressive 4-1 success over the world champions Spain.

The South American side also defeated the Republic of Ireland 1-0 but were beaten by Japan by the same scoreline.

Batista's contract runs until the end of the 2014 World Cup finals, which will be held in Brazil. His first game as permanent boss will be a friendly against the Brazilians in Qatar later this month.