Born February 5th, 1948
Died August 26th, 2024
“We’ve sold our birthright down the fjord to a nation of seven million skiers and hammer-throwers who spend half their year living in total darkness,” thundered the Daily Mail in November 2000 when the news broke that Sven-Göran Eriksson was to become England’s first foreign-born manager. Eriksson, who has died aged 76, would ultimately fail in the job, like every other England boss since Alf Ramsey; and while the Swede’s 5½-year reign had its moments, it is primarily remembered for off-field froth and celebrity worship.
Eriksson’s impressive track record as a coach across Europe in the 1980s and 1990s had won him that lucrative job, but by the end of his England tenure he was something of a punchline. Urbane in manner and studious in appearance, his surprisingly racy private life eventually overshadowed his managerial abilities. He enjoyed a career of two halves: a fresh young tactical thinker in the first, a charming but complacent multimillionaire in the second.
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Born in Sunne to parents who worked as a bus conductor and a nurse, Eriksson studied economics after school while failing to carve out a football career as a defender in the Swedish lower divisions. He did, however, befriend Tord Grip, an up-and-coming coach who one day would serve as Eriksson’s right-hand man with England. Grip, managing Degerfors at the time, made him his assistant coach. Eriksson subsequently replaced Grip as manager, and good results saw IFK Gothenburg come calling in 1979.
The players quickly embraced Eriksson’s methods. In 1982 he steered IFK to their first league title since 1969. The same year he pulled off the crowning achievement of his career: IFK not only reached the Uefa Cup final but unexpectedly won it, beating hot favourites Hamburg 4-0 over two legs.
The victory made Eriksson a target for Europe’s big clubs, and Benfica won the race for his signature. There, he won two Portuguese titles and reached another Uefa Cup final, which was lost to Anderlecht. In 1984 he moved to Italy, but stints at Roma and Fiorentina were relatively unsuccessful. He returned to Benfica in 1989, getting them to the European Cup final in Vienna, where they lost 1-0 to Milan. It would be the closest Eriksson ever came to the big prize.
[ Sven-Göran Eriksson chased trophies and the good life as a single pursuitOpens in new window ]
Five years at Sampdoria were followed by four at Lazio, where club president Sergio Cragnotti’s financial largesse helped Eriksson to win Serie A with a team full of big names. Then came England. Eriksson began with a bang as his team sensationally hammered Germany 5-1 in a World Cup qualifier in Munich just seven months into his reign. But England subsequently froze against Greece at Old Trafford, and only David Beckham’s last-minute free-kick secured their place at the 2002 finals.
As the 2002 World Cup approached, Eriksson’s popularity with the English public skyrocketed, and he happily filled his boots as companies queued up to offer him lucrative endorsement deals; at one point, he even released a CD of his favourite classical music tunes. But at the tournament, England’s habit of starting well before fading saw Eriksson reach for the phrase “First half, good; second half, not so good” in post-match press conferences. England did record a superb 1-0 win over Argentina, but later lost 2-1 to Big Phil Scolari’s Brazil in the quarter-finals. Eriksson’s half-time team talk was so uninspiring that defender Gareth Southgate remarked: “We needed Winston Churchill and we got Iain Duncan Smith.”
Another quarter-final exit awaited at Euro 2004, though Eriksson’s team played some good football before teenage prodigy Wayne Rooney broke his foot in the opening minutes of the quarter-final against hosts Portugal (managed by a familiar foe in Scolari). England lost on penalties, and by now there was a growing sense that Eriksson wasn’t really delivering the goods.
His starstruck attitude to big-name players didn’t go unnoticed by the English press. Nor did his increasingly eventful love life. Having split from wife Ann-Christine in 1994, he began a relationship with glamorous Italian-American socialite Nancy Dell’Olio four years later. He had a well-publicised affair in 2002 with TV star Ulrika Jonsson, and another in 2004 with FA secretary Faria Alam, who was simultaneously in a clandestine relationship with Mark Palios, the FA’s chief executive. Palios lost his job; Eriksson survived.
In early 2006 he was secretly recorded by the News of the World making unflattering comments about some England players and expressing interest in the Aston Villa job. The FA announced he would step down after the 2006 World Cup in Germany, even if England won it.
Before the competition began, the FA foolishly based the players’ wives and girlfriends in the spa town of Baden-Baden, where their night-time clubbing was catnip to the tabloids. Eriksson himself was still in thrall to the ageing Beckham, an effectively undroppable captain. Playing stiltedly, England only came to life against Portugal in the quarter-final. But after Rooney was sent off for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho, another loss on penalties ensued. For the third tournament running, Eriksson had been outflanked by Scolari.
He patiently waited for his England contract to run out before taking another job, which legally obliged the FA to keep paying him until 2007. The day after the deal expired, he was appointed as Manchester City manager. But his one season at the Etihad ended in ignominy when City lost 8-1 at Middlesbrough, the worst result of his career.
Eriksson later managed Mexico and the Ivory Coast, with little success, and later returned to English football, rescuing Leicester City from a potential relegation to League One. Through it all, he remained a beloved figure in his homeland, where he was affectionately known as “Svennis”. His final job in football was as sporting director at IF Karlstad before a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer in early 2023 forced him to quit.
In his final months, Eriksson sentimentally paid match-day visits to almost all his former clubs, receiving a hero’s welcome in every stadium. He is survived by his partner, Yaniseth Alcides; and by his children, Lina and Johan.