Last month, Italian football federation (FIGC) president Carlo Tavecchio announced that Conte will step down as Italy coach when his contract expires after the European Championship, adding that the 46-year-old had told him that he wanted to "get back to day-to-day coaching."
Chelsea have now confirmed that Conte, who has signed a three-year deal, has been chosen as the full-time successor to Jose Mourinho, who was sacked in December after presiding over a disastrous Premier League title defence.
"I am very excited about the prospect of working at Chelsea Football Club. I am proud to be the coach of the national team of my country and only a role as attractive as manager of Chelsea could follow that," Conte told Chelsea's official website.
"I am looking forward to meeting everyone at the club and the day-to-day challenge of competing in the Premier League. Chelsea and English football are watched wherever you go, the fans are passionate and my ambition is to have more success to follow the victories I enjoyed in Italy.
"I am happy we have made the announcement now so everything is clear and we can end the speculation. I will continue to focus on my job with the Italian national team and will reserve speaking about Chelsea again until after the Euros."
The 46-year-old coach left his last club job at Juventus after a dispute over transfers, among other things, and infamously claimed that his side couldn’t win in the Champions League because “you can’t eat in a €100 restaurant if you only have €10.”
But transfer funds won’t be a problem for Conte in west London, with the Chelsea hierarchy promising him a nine-figure transfer kitty plus the almost £100million that the club expect to make from selling Hazard and Diego Costa.
Conte has also been promised an enormous bonus on top of his £11million salary if he can win Chelsea a second Champions League title during his tenure.
Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck added: "Antonio Conte has a record of consistent success in his career as a manager and as a player. We look forward to welcoming him to Stamford Bridge and are confident he will find all he needs to maintain that high standard of achievement."
Conte has been taking English lessons for months in preparation for life in the Premier League and in February that the 46-year-old had moved ahead of Massimiliano Allegri, Diego Simeone, Jorge Sampaoli and Mauricio Pochettino in the running to become the next Chelsea manager.
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