Former Belgium national youth team coach Abrams will replace the recently departed Han Berger and his focus will be on improving Australia's elite youth player development and coach education.
The FFA announced the appointment of Abrams on Wednesday and CEO David Gallop underlined the 57-year-old's history of helping bring through the likes of Vincent Kompany, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku to Belgium's senior national team, who defeated Australia 2-0 earlier this month.
"Eric has all the skills and attributes we were looking for when we set out on a worldwide recruitment process," Gallop said in a statement released by FFA.
"Eric will head all of our elite pathway and youth development structures in line with the National Curriculum that has been in place since 2009.
"Eric has an impressive background in elite youth development in Belgium and has played an integral role in producing what the technical experts believe is one of the strongest groups of international players in world football."
Abrams was head coach of Belgium's under-15 and under-17 teams from 2002-2013, helping develop the vast majority of players the Red Devils took to the World Cup earlier this year.
He was involved in youth development at Saudi Arabian club Al Ahli since leaving the Belgian Football Association (KBVB).
Abrams' focus with the FFA will be helping improve the standard of players up to the age of 16.
"Eric's appointment is the result of a formal review of the youth structures of Australian football and a long recruitment process to ensure we found the person that compliments where we thought we had some holes in that elite pathway," FFA Head of National Performance Luke Casserly said.
"A big part of his role will be to work with A-League and W-League clubs and our state and territory member federations to ensure our programs are aligned and world-class."
