Sven-Göran Eriksson, England’s first overseas coach and winner of numerous club awards, has died at the age of 76.

Eriksson announced in January 2024 that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and that he probably had about a year to live “at best.” He had resigned from his last post as sporting director at Karlstad in his native Sweden the previous February because, as he said at the time, he had “health issues that are being investigated.”

Eriksson’s death was confirmed by Bo Gustavsson, the former Lazio coach’s agent in Sweden, through his British PR agent Dean Eldredge of Oporto Sports. Gustavsson said Eriksson died at home on Monday morning surrounded by his family. “The family asks that their wishes to grieve in privacy be respected and that they not be contacted,” a statement said.

Eriksson’s coaching career spanned more than four decades, during which he won 18 trophies, starting in Sweden with Degerfors IF before taking charge of IFK Göteborg. Eriksson was 30 and little known to the players of one of the country’s leading clubs, but he persisted and enjoyed great success, leading Gothenburg to the Swedish championship and the UEFA Cup in 1982.

Eriksson was then appointed coach of Benfica and enjoyed further success, winning two league titles and reaching the UEFA Cup final again in 1983. This time he lost 2-1 on aggregate to Anderlecht.

Eriksson’s star was on the rise, however. He moved to Roma and then Fiorentina before returning to Benfica in 1989, leading the Portuguese club to another league title and a European Cup final in 1990, which they lost to Milan. He then returned to Italy to join Sampdoria, whom he led to Coppa Italia triumph in 1994, before moving to Lazio, where Eriksson was backed in the transfer market by wealthy club president Sergio Cragnotti and repaid that faith with a Serie A title in 2000, only the second time the Rome club had won Italy’s most prestigious trophy.

By this time, Eriksson was one of the most respected managers in Europe, so it was no great surprise that the Football Association were eyeing him to succeed Kevin Keegan as England manager. However, his appointment in January 2001 was still controversial in a section of the media because of his nationality. “We have sold our birthright on the fjord to a nation of seven million skiers and hammer throwers who spend half their lives in the dark,” wrote the Daily Mail. The Sun called Eriksson’s appointment “a terrible, pathetic, self-inflicted indictment.”

Eriksson dealt with the anger in his usual cool, calm manner and got off to a perfect start. In February 2001 he led England to a 3-0 victory over Spain at Villa Park. Seven months later came the highlight of his England career – a 5-1 victory over Germany in Munich. David Lacey described the result in the Guardian as “ecstasy at its finest” and for Eriksson it was a real leap. Lacey also wrote that night: “The appointment has taken on an air of genius.”

England needed another memorable result – a 2-2 draw with Greece at Old Trafford in October 2001 – to qualify for the following summer’s World Cup, and it was at this point that the other aspect of Eriksson’s tenure – controversy – came to the fore. Just before the tournament in Japan and South Korea, it was revealed that Eriksson had been having an affair with television presenter and fellow countrywoman Ulrika Jonsson. It was not the last time his love life would receive so much attention.

Eriksson was accused of failing to get the best out of England’s so-called ‘Golden Generation’, but he led the team to three major tournaments, reaching the quarter-finals on each occasion. He resigned at the end of the 2006 World Cup after being embroiled in a tabloid scandal in January of that year in which he told the ‘False Sheik’ he would be willing to coach Aston Villa if the team was taken over in the Middle East. This was followed by alleged flings with Manchester United and Chelsea, and eventually his position had become untenable: before the World Cup it was announced that Eriksson would leave regardless of how England fared in Germany.

“The unfair thing is not the football press,” Eriksson later said of the turbulent period of his five-year tenure as England coach. “The unfair thing is the rest of the press, who do not recognise the difference between private life and professional life. If the two are mixed up in one way or another, that is bad, very bad.”

Eriksson later coached numerous clubs and countries, including Manchester City, Leicester, Mexico and finally the Philippines in 2019. In March 2024, he also fulfilled a childhood dream by coaching Liverpool in a charity match at Anfield. “It was a beautiful day,” Eriksson said afterwards.

A documentary about Eriksson’s life, simply titled “Sven,” was shown on Amazon Prime before his death and included a message from himself that aptly summed up his good humor, grace and dignity. “Don’t be sad, smile,” Eriksson said. “Thank you for everything, coaches, players, spectators, it was fantastic. Take care of yourselves and your life. And live it. Bye.”