LONDON:
Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has said he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has a year to live in a “best case scenario”.
The 75-year-old led England to the World Cup finals in 2002 and 2006, losing in the quarter-finals on both occasions. In February last year, Eriksson stepped down from his role at Swedish club Karlstad due to “health issues”.
“Everyone can see that I have a disease that is not good, and everyone assumes it’s cancer, and it is. But I have to fight it as much as possible,” Eriksson said in an appearance on Swedish radio P1.
“I know at best it’s about a year, at worst even less,” he said, according to a transcript on P1’s website. “I don’t think the doctors I have can be absolutely sure, they can’t take a day.” LOOKING ON THE POSITIVE Erickson said he was trying not to think about his illness, adding:
“You have to trick your brain. I could go around thinking about this all the time and sit at home and be miserable and think I’m unlucky and so on.”
“It’s easy to end up in that position. But no, look on the bright side of things and don’t bury yourself in setbacks, because that’s the biggest setback of all of course. It just came out of nowhere. And that shocks you,” Erickson added.
“I’m not in serious pain. But I’ve been diagnosed with a disease you can slow down but not operate on. It is what it is.”
Eriksson began his career at Swedish side Degerfors IF, before taking charge of Benfica for a highly successful spell between 1982-84.
He also won titles at Roma, Sampdoria and Lazio before becoming England’s first foreign manager in 2001. Despite only missing five competitive games, Eriksson’s time in England has been a roller-coaster ride, with some superb displays on the pitch accompanied by scandals off the field.
His England team was described as a golden generation, with a squad made up of high-profile players such as David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney, but failed to win any major silverware.
As well as two World Cup quarter-finals, England also reached the last eight of the 2004 European Championship, where they lost on penalties to Portugal.
The Swede hit the headlines after an affair with former FA secretary Faria Alam and was caught up in the infamous “Fake Sheikh” sting when a tabloid newspaper set him up with a reporter posing as the wealthy Arab investor.
After leaving England in 2006, Eriksson coached a number of clubs including Manchester City, the Mexico national team and Leicester City.
His final coaching role in a glittering coaching career spanning four decades was with the Philippines in 2019.
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