STOCKHOLM (AP) – Swedish football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who became the first foreigner to lead the England national team, died on Monday at the age of 76, his agent said.
Eriksson, a charismatic coach who led Swedish, Portuguese and Italian clubs to major trophies in the 1980s and 1990s before taking on the England job in 2001, announced earlier this year that he was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer.
Eriksson died Monday at home surrounded by his family, his agent Bo Gustavsson told The Associated Press.
His death followed eight months after he revealed he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had at most one year to live.
Fondly known as “Svennis” in his native Sweden, Eriksson had a modest, nine-year playing career before retiring at the age of 27 and embarking on what proved to be a nomadic coaching career that reached its peak when he was hired by England in 2001.
Eriksson led what was regarded as a “golden generation” of players, including David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney, at the World Cups in 2002 and 2006 and got the team to the quarterfinals at both tournaments before elimination by Brazil and Portugal, respectively.
In the only other major tournament under Eriksson — the European Championship in 2004 — England was also ousted at the quarterfinal stage, again by Portugal and via a penalty shootout like at the World Cup in 2006.
Eriksson’s tenure in one of world soccer’s most high-profile jobs was remembered almost as much for what happened off the field as on it. He had two affairs — one with Swedish TV personality Ulrika Jonsson and the other with a secretary at the Football Association, Faria Alam — which kept England’s gossip-hungry newspapers busy.
“My private life was not very private in England,” Eriksson said in 2018.
Eriksson led England to quarter finals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, and at the 2004 European Championship, managing a golden generation of players, including David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard.
Eriksson also managed two English clubs during their Thai ownership periods: Manchester City under Thaksin Shinawatra (2007-2008) and Leicester City under Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha (2010-2011).
At Manchester City, Eriksson was appointed on July 6, 2007, becoming the club’s first non-UK and Swedish Premier League manager. Despite initial success, owner Shinawatra announced plans to replace him after just one season due to poor results. Following a record 8-1 loss to Middlesbrough, Eriksson left by “mutual consent” on June 2, 2008.
Eriksson joined Leicester City on October 3, 2010, with the club in the Championship relegation zone. He invested heavily in new players during the summer of 2011. However, after 13 league matches and with the team in 13th place, Eriksson departed by mutual consent on October 25, 2011.
Eriksson has coached in ten countries: Sweden, Portugal, Italy, England, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, China and the Philippines.
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