Sven-Goran Eriksson dead: Ex-England manager passes away aged 76 after health battle
The legendary manager shared a poignant goodbye message in a new documentary reflecting on his life
FORMER England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has tragically passed away aged 76 after revealing he had terminal pancreatic cancer.
Eriksson spent five years as the Three Lions’ boss – taking England to the quarter-finals in two World Cups and a European Championship.
Eriksson, who was in charge of the Three Lions’ Golden Generation, revealed in January he had “at best a year” to live after being diagnosed with cancer.
The Swede’s family confirmed today he died in a heartbreaking statement.
It read: “Sven-Goran Eriksson has passed away.
“After a long illness, SGE died during the morning at home surrounded by family.”
His devastated family have asked for their privacy to be respected so they can mourn in private.
A statement from his children Lina and Johan Eriksson today read: “Our father Sven-Goran Eriksson fell asleep peacefully in his home at Björkefors outside Sunne this morning. He has for a long time fought bravely with his illness, but now it came to an end.
“Our thoughts go out to Sven-Goran’s father Sven; girlfriend Yaniseth and her son Alcides; to his brother Lasse and wife Jumnong, as well as to all good friends and acquaintances in Sweden and around the world.
“Dad told us at the beginning of this year about his serious illness and received an amazing response from friends and football fans around Europe. He was invited to several football teams in England, Italy, Portugal and Sweden.
“They shared their love for football and for dad. It was unforgettable for both him and us. He expressed his appreciation and joy and stated that such beautiful words are usually only uttered when someone has died.”
The children added: “We have shared his gratitude and got to experience the wonderful meetings between him, football and all his friends. We thank everyone for these positive memories and your support during his illness.
“We hope that you will remember Svennis as the good and positive person he always was both in public and at home with us.”
The Swede became the first foreign manager of the England men’s football team in 2001.
He managed superstars such as Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Michael Owen.
During his time with England Eriksson managed 67 matches, he won 40 and lost 10 – of his 67 games 40 were competitive.
Eriksson left the England role after the 2006 World Cup and would later manage a host of clubs at domestic and international level.
It comes as…
- Prince William paid a touching tribute to Sven after his death aged 76
- Sven left film crews in tears after filming his heartbreaking final goodbye alone
- Fans looked back on Eriksson’s astonishing career and role as England gaffer
- Sven’s close friend gave a devastating update on his health battle shortly before his death
- We looked back at the ex-England manager’s time with the ‘golden generation’ tipped for glory
Due to his health issues, he was sadly forced to step down as sporting director at Swedish club Karlstad in February 2023.
After announcing his cancer diagnosis, Eriksson was granted his lifelong wish when he led out Liverpool Legends, as they played in a charity match against Ajax at Anfield in March.
Revealing his illness in January, Eriksson told P1: “Everyone understands that I have an illness that is not good.
“Everyone guesses it’s cancer and it is. But I have to fight as long as I can.”
When asked about the prognosis, Eriksson said he has “maybe at best a year, at worst a little less, or at best maybe even longer”.
He added: “You can’t be absolutely sure. It is better not to think about it.
“But you can trick your brain. See the positive in things, don’t wallow in adversity, because this is the biggest adversity of course, but make something good out of it.”
The 76-year-old has now seen his life chronicled in a documentary for Amazon Prime Video where he gave a touching farewell.
Sven gave a poignant final message to former players, coaches and supporters after speaking openly about his affairs and life in the film.
In a touching clip at the end of the documentary, Sven told viewers: “I had a good life. I think we are all scared of the day when we die, but life is about death as well.
“You have to learn to accept it for what it is. Hopefully at the end people will say, yeah, he was a good man, but everyone will not say that.
“I hope you will remember me as a positive guy trying to do everything he could do. Don’t be sorry, smile.
“Thank you for everything, coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic. Take care of yourself and take care of your life. And live it.”
The film then pans back to Sven in his home, with the former England manager concluding his message with “bye”.
During Eriksson’s time at the helm, England’s “Golden Generation” went from 17th in the world rankings to fifth.
Football Association patron Prince William today paid tribute to him as a “true gentleman of the game”.
Sven-Goran Eriksson's managerial career
FOLLOWING Sven-Goran Eriksson's death from his battle with cancer, SunSport takes a look at his remarkable managerial career...
PROMISING START
It began in Sweden in 1977 where he won the third division with Degerfors, before he joined Gothenburg and won two Swedish Cups and the Uefa Cup.
He then took over at Benfica in 1982 and spent two seasons with the Portuguese giants where he won back-to-back league titles.
INCREDIBLE ITALIAN SUCCESS
Stints followed in Italy with Roma and Fiorentina, but he returned to Benfica in 1989 and reached the European Cup final before losing to AC Milan.
Eriksson claimed a third league title with Benfica the following year, leaving in 1992 for Sampdoria.
He spent five seasons with the Serie A side, winning the Copa Italia in 1994.
Eriksson then added another two Coppa Italias to his trophy cabinet with Lazio across a four-year spell.
ENGLAND APPOINTMENT
Then came the England job in 2001 where he spent five years at the helm of the national side.
He reached the quarter-finals of World Cup 2002, losing 2-1 to eventual winners Brazil.
England then suffered back-to-back eliminations at the hands of Portugal at Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006.
PREMIER LEAGUE SPELLS
After leaving the Three Lions following his third major tournament, he spent one season at Manchester City.
Spells followed at Mexico, Ivory Coast and Leicester, before he moved to China where he coached three clubs across a four-year period.
His last managerial stint came for the Philippines national team, a position he held from October 2018 to January 2019.
MAJOR HONOURS
Portugal League title x 3 (Benfica 82/83, 83/84, 90/91)
Copa Italia x 4 (Roma 85/86, Sampdoria 93/94, Lazio 97/98, 99/00)
Serie A title (Lazio 99/00)
Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup (Lazio 98/99)
Uefa Super Cup (Lazio 99)
BBC Sports Personality Coach of the Year (England 2001)
The England fans’ group Free Lions also paid a touching tribute on X: “RIP Sven. For the night in Munich, amongst everything else, thank you for the memories.”
This is honouring England’s glory after their 5-1 victory over Germany in Munich in a World Cup qualifier in September 2001.
Current FA chief executive Mark Bullingham added today: “This is a very sad day. He gave all England fans such special memories. No one can ever forget the 5-1 victory in Munich against Germany under Sven’s guidance.
“Sven will be rightly recognised and forever remembered for his significant work with the England team, and for his wider contribution to the game.
“On behalf of my colleagues at the FA, past and present, our thoughts are with his friends and family today. He will be much missed, and we will pay tribute to him when we play Finland at Wembley next month.”
Despite coaching the likes of Beckham, Gerrard, Rooney and Lampard, Eriksson never saw a major title for the Three Lions.
The team was pinned to bring football home but heartbreakingly crashed out of Germany at the 2006 World Cup in the quarter finals.
Eriksson later said his biggest regret was deciding against bringing in a mental coach to work with the players after a penalty shootout stumped England’s chances of glory.
After stepping down that year, he and went on to manage Manchester City for a year before trying for international glory again at Mexico and Ivory Coast.
Following a spell at Leicester City, the Swede spent four years working in the emerging Chinese Super League.
Eriksson’s final job as Philippines’ national boss ended 2019 – bringing an end to an illustrious managerial career.
Born in Sweden on February 5, 1948, Erkisson also had a modest playing career in the lower echelons of local football.
The young sportsman played most of his career as a right-back for Division 4 outfit Torsby.
LIFE OUTSIDE FOOTBALL
Then, after hanging up his boots at the age of 27, he became the assistant of his long-time collaborator Tord Grip at Degerfors, becoming manager in 1977.
It was that same year that Eriksson married his first wife, Ann-Christine Pettersson, who he has two children with.
The pair spilt in 1994, an in the years that followed, he went on to coach Benfica, Roma, Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Lazio.
Away from the pitch, Eriksson’s love life was put under the spotlight when he met Italian lawyer and TV star Nancy Del’Ollio.
Their romance suffered controversy when it emerged that he had a four-month romance with fellow Swedish celebrity Ulrika Jonsson in 2002.
Two years later Eriksson strayed again, having an affair with Football Association secretary Faria Alam which prompted a FA scandal.
Dell’Olio stayed with the manager, but left him in 2007.
In an interview in 2018, Eriksson said the high-profile of his love life took its toll.
SunSport’s Shaun Custis and Martin Lipton discussed Sven-Goran Eriksson’s England legacy following his death aged 76.
Custis: “He was the most polite, civil manager I’ve ever dealt with in my life.”
Lipton: “There are many managers who are prone to paroxysms of aggravation and screaming matches.
“You can’t imagine Sven ever raising his voice, let alone having a row with someone. He was a gentle man and a gentleman throughout his dealings with us certainly. And I think that always came across from the very outset.
“He was clearly a quite calm, unflappable character and he wasn’t going to let anything perturb him no matter what it was. No matter what questions were thrown at him, no matter what stick he got. He had this veneer of utter tranquillity.”
Custis: “There was a lot of mystery to him. You weren’t reading things about him every two minutes online as you would do now but he came in and he got off to a great start with that 3-0 win over Spain.”
Lipton: “He just loved being around football, didn’t he that was the thing.
“He didn’t want to give it up… He actually, genuinely loved being around football players, being a manager and all the trappings of that and just being important. Because he enjoyed being Sven-Goran Eriksson – football manager.”
Lipton: “He brought back a belief in the England team in that period, he gave us a night we’ll never forget and oversaw the real change in the culture of English football in that it became more celebrity in many ways.
“The players became bigger than they’d ever been and he managed to keep that under a degree of wraps… He was a better manager than I thought he was at the time.”
He said: “I thought I was prepared for England but I was not prepared for things outside football, my private life.
“I am not very proud that fans could probably name three of my former girlfriends.
“I don’t think it damaged my football results. But my image outside football it damaged, yes.”
In his heartbreaking Amazon Prime documentary, the football legend hold how his relationship with his children had improved amid his diagnosis.
He said: “When you get divorced, you feel bad – and I did. At that time I don’t think I was a great dad. But before that and after that I guess I was okay.
“It’s good to see that the children found the right way and have a good life. I am proud of them. Extremely proud.”
Lina also talked about reconnecting with her father and how difficult it was to see him go through cancer.
She said: “He’s a very black-and-white person when it comes to how he’s feeling. Everything’s good, or it’s s**t.
“Every time coming back to the house, I see the clear difference in deteriorating. That’s really, really hard to see.”
“I think it has taken time to process and I think he has come a long way now than initially”, Lina added.
“It’s only very recently that I’ve been able to reconnect with dad and to have a very different relationship with him than I had had as a teenager.
“You realise the value of life and that what you thought was important is really not that important.”
