He will step into the position vacated by Martin Jol, who left to become the new coach of Ajax at the end of the Bundesliga season.

"In Bruno Labbadia, we have appointed a coach who completely identifies with this assignment," said Hamburg's director of sport Dietmar Beiersdorfer in a press release.

"He stands for absolute professionalism, passion and has a clear philosophy of how football should be played.

"We are looking forward to working together."

Labbadia had been on the verge of losing his job as coach of Leverkusen since they were beaten in the DFB-Pokal final by Werder Bremen last weekend, but a meeting to clarify his future on Tuesday failed to bring a conclusive decision.

However, Hamburg had already made contact with the 43-year-old and reached an agreement which was dependent on him securing his release from Leverkusen.

The two clubs tonight reached on a financial settlement to enable Labbadia, who still had a year to run on his contract with Leverkusen, to take over at the northern Germany side.

He has signed a three-year contract with Hamburg, for whom he also spent two years of his playing career.