Former England manager Sven Göran Eriksson dies aged 76
Former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson has died at the age of 76, according to a statement from Swedish agent Bo Gustavsson.
The statement said: "Sven-Göran Eriksson has passed away. After a long illness, SGE died during the morning at home surrounded by family.
"The closest mourners are daughter Lina; son Johan with wife Amana and granddaughter Sky; father Sven; girlfriend Yanisette with son Alcides; brother Lars-Erik with wife Jumnong.
"The family asks for respect for their wish to mourn in private and not be contacted.
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"Condolences and greetings can be left on the website www.svengoraneriksson.com"
Appointed as England's first foreign manager in 2001, Eriksson guided the Three Lions to a trio of quarter-final finishes in two World Cups and Euro 2004.
His first game in charge of England was a 3-0 win over Spain, but perhaps his most famous fixture with the Three Lions was a 5-1 victory over Germany.
During his career as a club manager he won a trio of league titles in Portugal as Benfica manager and won the Serie A with Lazio.
He also won several cup competitions, including winning the Coppa Italia with Roma, Sampdoria and Lazio.
After his time with the England squad he had further stints in English club football as manager of Manchester City and Leicester City, as well as a number of other international management roles including Mexico, Ivory Coast and the Philippines.
Earlier this year he managed Liverpool in a 'legends' charity fixture at Anfield.
In January of this year Eriksson had revealed to a Swedish radio station that he had pancreatic cancer and 'in the best case it’s about a year, in the worst case even less'.
"Everyone can see that I have a disease that’s not good, and everyone supposes that it’s cancer, and it is," he had explained.
"But I have to fight it as long as possible. It’s pancreatic – you can’t operate on it. It can be slowed."
Speaking in an upcoming Prime Video documentary, he said he hoped people would remember him as 'a good man'.
He said: "I had a good life. I think we are all scared of the day when we die, but life is about death as well.
“You have to learn to accept it for what it is. Hopefully at the end people will say, ‘yeah, he was a good man’, but everyone will not say that.
“I hope you will remember me as a positive guy trying to do everything he could do.
“Don’t be sorry, smile. Thank you for everything, coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic. Take care of yourself and take care of your life. And live it. Bye."
Joe Harker