Sven-Goran Eriksson, 76, died on Monday. He was a Swedish football manager who spent five years as England’s first foreign-born coach after winning club titles in Italy, Portugal and Sweden.
Eriksson died at home, surrounded by family, according to his agent, Bo Gustavsson.
His death came eight months after he said he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had only one year to live.
That announcement prompted Eriksson to receive a flood of affection and homage from his former players and clubs, as well as a biographical documentary and a visit to his favourite club Liverpool, where he was invited to be manager for the day in a charity game.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, Swedish Soccer Coach Who Was First Foreigner To Lead England Team, Dies At 76
“As a coach, Sven-Goran was both a great innovator and a true ambassador of our beautiful game,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino, one of several prominent personalities in the sport who paid tribute to Eriksson on Monday.
Eriksson, affectionately known as “Svennis” in his native Sweden, had a short nine-year playing career before quitting at 27 and embarking on what proved to be a nomadic coaching career that peaked when he joined England in 2001.
Within months, he led an underachieving squad to a stunning trademark victory, 5-1, over Germany in Munich during a World Cup qualification game.
Eriksson guided what was seen as a “golden generation” of players, including David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, and Wayne Rooney, to the World Cup quarterfinals in 2002 and 2006, where Brazil and Portugal eliminated them.
In Eriksson’s only other big event, the 2004 European Championship, England was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Portugal after a penalty shootout, similar to the 2006 World Cup.
“We laughed, we cried, and we knew we were saying goodbye,” Beckham wrote in an Instagram post, accompanying footage of a recent meeting with Eriksson, who appointed him national team captain.
“Thank you, Sven, for always being who you are: passionate, kind, calm, and a great gentleman. I shall be eternally grateful to you for making me your captain, but I will cherish these final memories of this day with you and your family… Thank you, Sven, and in your final words to me, ‘It will be ok.'”
Eriksson’s term in one of international soccer’s most high-profile positions was remembered almost as much for what transpired off the field as what happened on it. He had two affairs, one with Swedish TV personality Ulrika Jonsson and the other with Faria Alam, a secretary at the Football Association, which kept England’s gossip-hungry press entertained.
“My private life was not very private in England,” Eriksson admitted in 2018.
His time with England coincided with the advent of a WAG (wives and girlfriends) culture, with high-profile players’ partners, such as Victoria Beckham, creating headlines after Eriksson permitted them to travel to Germany for the World Cup.
Eriksson later had brief stints in command of the Mexico, Ivory Coast, and Philippines national teams, although his only silverware came from club competitions.
In 1982, he won the league and cup double with Swedish club IFK Gothenburg, and he finished a remarkable season by winning the now-defunct UEFA Cup.
Eriksson won back-to-back Portuguese crowns with Benfica (1982-84) and the Portuguese Cup in 1983 before returning to the club to reach the European Cup final in 1990, losing to AC Milan, and winning the league again in 1991.
He rose to prominence as a coach in Italy, primarily at Lazio, following stints at Roma (1984-87), Sampdoria (1992-97), where he won Italian Cups, and Fiorentina (1987-89).
From 1997 to 2001, he guided Lazio to only their second league victory—in 2000—following Juventus’ late-season collapse. He also won two Italian Cups and the final European Cup Winners’ Cup (in 1999).
Eriksson’s Lazio might have won Serie A in 1999, but they were beaten by AC Milan by a point and also lost in the UEFA Cup final in 1998.
“It was the best period of my career,” Eriksson recalled winning seven medals in four years when Italy competed with Spain for Europe’s top football league.
Eriksson profited from its owner, Sergio Cragnotti’s, huge expenditure at Lazio, with the Scudetto-winning squad featuring notable talents such as Juan Sebastián Verón, Pavel Nedved, and Sinisa Mihajlovic. The following season, the Roman club spent a world-record sum to sign Hernan Crespo and another Argentine striker, Claudio López, but Eriksson did not finish the season after being attracted by the England post.
He also had two year-long stints in club management in England, at Manchester City (2007-08) and Leicester (2010-11), followed by a stint as director of football at fourth-tier Notts County, which briefly had the kind of money — following its purchase by a Middle Eastern consortium — to attract a high-profile name like Eriksson.
Eriksson, a bespectacled and straight-talking coach, was well-liked by his players and considered an effective man-manager. He radiated calm authority in the locker room and was never afraid to make hard decisions, such as selling Guiseppe Signori, Lazio’s captain and best striker, since Eriksson did not believe the player had a positive impact. Lazio won the league the next season.
Sven-Goran Eriksson, Swedish Soccer Coach Who Was First Foreigner To Lead England Team, Dies At 76
Eriksson concluded his coaching career by managing two Chinese clubs, Guangzhou and Shanghai SIPG, and most recently served as sports director at Karlstad, a team in Sweden’s third level, before announcing in February 2023 that he would be stepping down for health reasons.
They became well-known 11 months later, when Eriksson told Swedish Radio that he had terminal cancer, stating, “At best, I have maybe a year, at worst, a little less.”
“I could go and think about it all the time and sit at home and be grumpy and think I’m unlucky and so on,” he told me. “I believe that you can easily end up there.
“No, look at things optimistically and don’t dwell on misfortune. Because, of course, this is the most significant setback.”
“Svennis’ importance to football, in Sweden and outside Sweden, cannot be overestimated,” Kristersson told the press. “I can only fathom how many girls and boys have started playing football—and dared to dream—as a result of his efforts. “Thanks for everything, Svennis!”
SOURCE | AP
