Qatar tribune PA Media/DPA London Former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson has died at the age of 76. A statement on his official website confirmed he had died on Monday morning, surrounded by his family. The Swede, who had been battling cancer, was the first foreign manager of the English national side, taking charge of 67 matches from 2001 to 2006.
He led England to the quarter-finals of three major tournaments in succession, including the World Cups of 2002 and 2006. He was appointed after a successful career in club management, notably in Italy with Lazio. He returned to the World Cup with Ivory Coast in 2010 and also had spells in charge of Manchester City and Leicester among stints in several other countries in a lengthy career.
Eriksson won the Serie A title with Lazio in 1999-2000 to add to the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup the previous season, also twice winning the Coppa Italia which he had previously lifted with Roma and Samp. His time at Benfica brought three league titles, a domestic cup and two European finals and he led Gothenburg to UEFA Cup glory in 1982. He was never far away from the headlines during his time in England where, apart from football, his private life was a seemingly endless source of fascination for newspapers.
Eriksson’s life and career is the subject of a new Amazon Prime documentary which was released on Friday. In it, the Swede talked about how he hoped to be remembered. “I hope you will remember me as a positive guy trying to do everyth.