Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Swede who coached England's national team, dies aged 76

Legendary football coach Sven-Goran Eriksson passed away on Monday at the age of 76 after a drawn-out battle with cancer. The Swedish coach served as the coach of the England men's football team for five years, and was the first-ever foreign coach of the Three Lions.

Eriksson rose to the highest levels of football after he won trophies at the club level in Italy, Portugal and Sweden.

The Swede died 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.


Eriksson, referred to as "Svennis" in his native Sweden, retired from playing football at the age of 27 before going on to take up a career in coaching, with his most high-profile job - as the England coach - coming in 2001.

He led a team full of England's brightest stars - David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney - in two World Cups, at Japan and Korea in 2002, and at Germany in 2006. Eriksson took the Three Lions to the quarterfinals on both occassions, before they were eliminated 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.

With inputs from AP