Former England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer – 01/11/2024 – Sport

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson says he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has a year to live in the “best case scenario”.

The 75-year-old Swede led England at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, losing in the quarter-finals on both occasions. In Japan, the defeat was against the Brazilian team, with goals from Rivaldo and Ronaldinho Gaúcho.

In February last year, Eriksson left his role at Swedish club Karlstad due to “health problems”.

“Everyone can see that I have a disease that is not good, and everyone assumes it is cancer, and it is. But I have to fight as much as possible,” Eriksson said in an interview with Swedish radio station P1.

“I know that in the best case it’s about a year, in the worst case even less,” he said, according to a transcript on the P1 website. “I don’t think the doctors I have can be completely sure, they can’t set a date.”

Eriksson said he is trying not to think about his illness, adding: “You have to trick your brain. I could be thinking about it all the time and stay at home and be unhappy and think I’m unlucky and so on.”

“It’s easy to end up in this position. But no, look at the positive sides of things and don’t wallow in setbacks, because this is the biggest one of all, of course. It just came out of nowhere. And it shocks you,” Eriksson added.

“I’m not in much pain. But I’ve been diagnosed with a disease that you can slow but you can’t operate on. So it is what it is.”

Eriksson began his career at Degerfors IF in Sweden before taking charge of Benfica in a highly successful period between 1982 and 1984.

He also won titles with AS Roma, Sampdoria and Lazio before becoming England’s first foreign manager in 2001.

Despite missing just five competitive games, Eriksson’s time in England was a rollercoaster, with some excellent performances on the pitch accompanied by scandals off it.

His England team was considered a golden generation, with a team made up of outstanding players such as David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney, but it failed to win any major titles.

In addition to the two World Cup quarter-finals, England also reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship in 2004, where they lost on penalties to Portugal.

The Swede made headlines after an affair with the former secretary of the FA (English football federation), Faria Alam, and was caught in the infamous “Fake Sheikh” trap, when a reporter from a tabloid newspaper posed as a wealthy investor Arabic.

After leaving England in 2006, Eriksson coached a number of teams, including Manchester City, the Mexico national team and Leicester City.

His last coaching role in his successful career that spanned four decades was with the Philippines in 2019.