Sven-Göran Eriksson, ex-England manager, dies aged 76
Eriksson managed the England national team between 2001 and 2006.
Swedish football player turned manager Sven-Göran Eriksson has died at the age of 76.
In a statement released on Monday 26th August, his family said: "Sven-Göran Eriksson has passed away. After a long illness, SGE died during the morning at home surrounded by family."
Eriksson was born in Sunne, Sweden, and raised in the nearby Torsby. He made his professional footballing debut at the age of 16, playing for Torsby IF, before moving on to SK Sifhälla and KB Karlskoga FF.
Eriksson retired from professional football at the age of 27, but shortly afterwards became an assistant manager at Degerfors, and was soon promoted to the role of manager once it became free.
After multiple successes managing Swedish clubs, Eriksson was recruited by Portuguese club Benfica. The team finished as runners-up in the 1982-83 UEFA Cup and won the Portuguese league twice, leading to Eriksson becoming manager of Roma.
Subsequent managerial roles at Italian teams followed, before he was recruited to replace England manager Kevin Keegan, following his resignation.
He was the first foreign coach to manage the team, and he led the country to the quarter-finals in both the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, as well as in the 2004 Euros.
Eriksson’s team became known as the "golden generation", and included players such as David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard.
A year after leaving his job at England, Eriksson was announced as the new head coach at Manchester City on a three-year contract, but after an unsuccessful season it was announced that he and the club had parted ways in 2008.
Roles coaching for Mexico and the Ivory Coast’s national teams followed, as did roles at Notts County and Leicester City.
Eriksson went on to manage three Chinese teams before returning to international football, taking charge of the Philippines national team. He left as head coach in 2019.
He was married once, to Ann-Christine Pettersson in 1977, and they had two children. They divorced in 1994. He also had a long-term relationship with Nancy Dell’Olio between 1998 and 2007.
Eriksson announced in January 2024 that he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Having always wanted to manage Liverpool, he joined a Liverpool Legends management team for a charity game in March.
A documentary about his life and career was released just days ago, on Friday 23rd August.
