Sven-Goran Eriksson, Swedish soccer coach who was first foreigner to lead England team, dies at 76

Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Swedish soccer manager who spent five years as England’s first ever foreign-born coach after making his name winning trophies at club level in Italy, Portugal and Sweden, has died.

He was 76.

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.

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Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report