Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has passed away at the age of 76.
Eriksson revealed in January 2024 that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and predicted he had “at best” 12 months left to live.
“After a long illness, SGE died during the morning at home surrounded by family,” a statement read. “The closest mourners are daughter Lina; son Johan with wife Amana and granddaughter Sky; father Sven; girlfriend Yanisette with son Alcides; brother Lars-Erik with wife Jumnong.
“The family asks for respect for their wish to mourn in private and not be contacted.”
In the wake of Eriksson’s revelation, he confessed that one of the biggest regrets of his career was never getting the chance to manage Liverpool, who caught wind of the Swede’s wish and invited Eriksson to take change of a charity friendly involving club legends at Anfield in March 2024.
Eriksson described the experience as a “memory for life” as the Anfield crowd’s rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone moved him to tears.
After a short playing career in his native Sweden, Eriksson transitioned to coaching with Degerfors and Goteborg. His success with the latter in the 1981/82 UEFA Cup earned him the job as Benfica manager, winning two league titles in as many seasons before heading to Roma.
Spells with Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Lazio followed, as did a return to Benfica, before Eriksson became the first foreign manager in the history of the England national team in 2001.
Eriksson took England to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and Euro 2004, leading the Three Lions as high as fourth in FIFA’s global rankings. England were 17th at the time of his arrival.
He would go on to lead Manchester City, Mexico, the Ivory Coast, Leicester City, Guangzhou R&F, Shanghai SIPG, Shenzhen and the Philippines before a transition to more back-room work was brought to an end by his illness in February 2023