Swedish football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who led England from 2001 to 2006, passed away on Monday at the age of 76 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, according to his agent.
“He passed away peacefully this morning with his family around him at his home,” Eriksson’s agent, Bo Gustavsson, told AFP.
Eriksson, who coached numerous high-profile teams and guided England to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006, had announced in February 2023 that he was stepping back from public life due to “health issues.”
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In January, he disclosed to Sveriges Radio that he was suffering from pancreatic cancer and that doctors had given him “at best maybe a year, at worst a little less” to live.
“We have known about this, but it happened very quickly. We were not prepared for it to happen today,” Gustavsson told AFP.
Born on February 5, 1948, in Sunne, Sweden, Eriksson, known as “Svennis” in Sweden, began his career as a football manager after retiring as a player.
In 1977, he became the manager of Swedish club Degerfors IF, leading the team to success in lower divisions and catching the eye of larger clubs.
He went on to manage Sweden’s IFK Goteborg, before achieving international success with Benfica in Portugal and several Italian clubs, including Roma and Lazio.
Eriksson’s most notable role was as the first foreign manager of England’s national team, guiding them to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006. They were eliminated by Brazil in 2002 and by Portugal in a penalty shootout in 2006 after Wayne Rooney was sent off following a clash with Cristiano Ronaldo.
Under Eriksson’s leadership, England also reached the quarter-finals of the 2004 European Championship, where they again lost to Portugal in a penalty shootout.
Eriksson left the England job in 2006, following a five-year tenure marked by a notable 5-1 victory over Germany in a World Cup qualifier and controversy regarding his personal life.
After his time with England, Eriksson managed the national teams of Mexico, Ivory Coast, and the Philippines, but never his native Sweden.