by Mick the Ram

The family of Sven-Göran Eriksson, England’s first overseas manager and winner of multiple honours at club level, have revealed that he has sadly lost his fight against pancreatic cancer and died at the age of 76.

The Swede revealed in January 2024 that he had been diagnosed with the condition and that he had “at best” about a year to live.

His managerial career spanned four decades, taking charge of many top European clubs including: Benfica, Roma, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Lazio and Manchester City.

It was in January 2001 that he took over as England boss from Kevin Keegan, although the appointment was far from universally accepted and split opinions especially within the national media, with many believing it wrong to hand such a prestigious position to a foreign coach.

Nevertheless, he led them to the quarter-final stage at three successive tournaments and many feel he was desperately unlucky not to take the side on to glory, losing on penalty kicks at two of the last-eight ties.

He had quite a colourful private life, with his well-chronicled affair with fellow Swede, TV presenter Ulrika Johnson prompting much controversy.

A documentary about his life shown on Amazon Prime recently showed him to be a man of good humour, and grace, particularly its ending in which he gave message of real class and dignity.

Agent reveals sad passing

Eriksson’s death was initially confirmed by Bo Gustavsson, his agent in Sweden, via his UK PR agent, Dean Eldredge. The announcement simply said “SGE has passed away early on Monday 27 August at home surrounded by his family, after a long illness.”

He had stood down from his final job, as sporting director at Karlstad in his native Sweden, in February 2023, due to what was then described as “health issues which are under investigation”.

Deteriorated fast

His daughter, Lina, recently revealed that he was now “deteriorating quite quickly” and had spent recent months at home reconnecting with his family.

Eriksson’s son Johan said: “Dad has always managed to see the positives in his life, and that’s something that both Lina and I share. Dad instilled this in us from when we were kids and it’s been clear for all to see since his diagnosis.”

In his final days he spent a lot of time doing the thing he still loved most of all, and that was watching football; he also greatly enjoyed following the recent Olympic Games.

Children’s joint statement

In a joint statement, the children told how their father had fallen asleep peacefully in his home at Björkefors, outside Sunne.

They paid tribute to his bravery before going on to say: “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.”

The children explained how he was invited to several football teams in England, Italy, Portugal and Sweden as they “shared a love for football and for dad,” calling it an unforgettable time for both them and their father.

Continuing, they said: “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, we hope that you will remember Svennis as the good and positive person he always was both in public and at home with us.”

They said he believed he had the best job in the world and had said he was happy every day for long periods of his life.

Documentary gave them a therapeutic experience

Lina, spoke about the documentary that her father made and remarked that what she felt comes through most was how he didn’t get stuck in his emotions.

“He focuses on the challenge at hand and was reflective of his attitude to work. The process was almost therapeutic as we were able to live through the experience together,” she remarked.

Emotional message

In the filming, Sven talked about first discovering his pancreatic cancer and revealed he had already suffered five strokes at home. Initially he was able to receive treatment to help buy him more time, but time he said was “running out”.

He then gave a poignant message, which apparently brought the creators and production team of the documentary to tears:

“Don’t be sorry, smile; 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,” Eriksson said, before continuing:

“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. 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. Bye.”

Club success led him to England job

Eriksson won 18 trophies during a distinguished career in club management. He took Göteborg to the Swedish title and the Uefa Cup success before winning titles with Benfica and taking them to a European Cup final.

Further honours followed at Sampdoria and Lazio, which ultimately saw him approached by the English Football Association to succeed Kevin Keegan as England manager.

Cool throughout difficult beginning

Initially, some saw the Swede as a terrible choice, even calling it a “pathetic, self-inflicted indictment of the state of the game”.

Typical of the man however, he dealt with the outrage calmly and quickly won people over, helped especially by a stunning 5-1 victory in Germany’s backyard.

Luck not on his side

Luck seemed to desert him at crucial times during tournaments, with key injuries and sending-off’s proving costly.

He managed the country for 67 matches, but has been accused of failing to get the most out of what was considered to be England’s “golden generation”.

Controversy ends his stay

He left his post at the end of the 2006 World Cup having been caught up in a tabloid sting where he was seen to tell what later became known as the “Fake Sheikh” that he would be willing to manage Aston Villa were they to be the subject of a Middle Eastern takeover.

Once it became public knowledge his position become untenable.

Not a fan of the press

In his private life, after the breakdown of his first marriage which brought him his two children, he was introduced to Italian Nancy Dell’Olio, although during that relationship he had his infamous affair with Ulrika Jonsson.

He later spoke about the intrusion by the media into his personal matters. He said: “The unfair thing is not the football press, it is the rest of the press, which can’t see the difference between your private life and your professional life. When that gets mixed up, one way or another, that’s bad, very bad.”

The Liverpool dream comes true

In March 2024, knowing he did not have too much time left,  he realised a childhood dream by managing Liverpool at Anfield, albeit in a charity game.

Nonetheless, it was something he had longed to do throughout his career and afterwards he called it “a beautiful day”, before adding: “To finish with Liverpool, it can’t be much better than that.”

Royal tribute

Tributes will come thick and fast, with one of the first to message being Prince William. He put out a message from the Princess of Wales and himself saying: “Sad to hear about the passing of Sven-Göran Eriksson. I met him several times as England manager and was always struck by his charisma and passion for the game. My thoughts are with his family and friends. A true gentleman of the game.”