Sven-Goran Eriksson's Biography

Sven-Goran Eriksson was born on February 5, 1948 in Torsby, Sweden.

Eriksson played for Swedish Second Division club KB Karlskoga and Degerfors, until an injury forced him to retire in 1975.

Eriksson then went into management. Initially as assistant coach for Degerfors then coach itself. Sven then had stints at IFK Gothenberg, Benfica, AS Roma, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, and SS Lazio.

Sven-Goran Eriksson did well at all the clubs, but his achievement at Lazio stands out.

Under Eriksson's management Lazio became Italian Cup Winners 1998, Italian Super Cup Winners 1998, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Winners 1999 and UEFA Super Cup Winners 1999.

In 2000 they won the Italian League and Cup double.

However, in January 2001 the English F.A. snapped up his services, and Sven-Goran Eriksson joined England as National Team Coach. The first foreign manager to coach the England football team.

In his book, Sven-Goran Eriksson on Football, the Swede says:

"My intention had been to stay another year with Lazio in Rome, but when the offer from the FA came, I immediately felt, 'This is exactly what I want to do ... I have read the book 'The Second Most Important Job in the Country', which is all about England coaches from 1949 through to Kevin Keegan. It shows that all of them have been declared idiots at some time in their career ... So I know what to expect. I didn't take the job for the money and not for the weather, either! I took it because it's England."

Indeed, Eriksson was the recipient of flak from the English media. Much of it for off-the-pitch matters. His affairs with Ulrika Jonsson and a P.A. at the F.A, Faria Alam, and his being photographed meeting with Chelsea when it had become obvious that Claudio Ranieri was out-of-favour. Soon after, he was awarded a long contract extension in the England job.

In the past Sven used to date Jayne Connery, however Eriksson had a long-term relationship with property lawyer Nancy Dell'Olio, whom he met in 1998 whilst she was married to Giancarlo Mazza, a financier of Lazio.

Ulrika Jonsson has written damning opinion pieces about Nancy Dell'Olio. In her News of the World column in November 2004 Jonsson asked: "has that fake tan lotion started to pickle her brain?"

During his tenure as England manager, Eriksson was the recipient of huge media attention for events on and off the pitch.

The press were relentless in their interest in Eriksson and it culminated in his making unfortunate remarks to The News of the World's undercover reporter the 'fake sheikh'.

In January Sven Goran Eriksson and The F.A. agreed that he would leave his post as England manager straight after the World Cup - two years before the end of his contract. After a lengthy process, Steve McClaren was appointed as his replacement.

Sven-Goran Eriksson's 68-game spell as England manager came to an end with England's defeat to Portugal in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup in a penalty shoot-out.

Eriksson expressed his disappointment at England's departure: "I'm sorry for the team, the squad and the fans who were fantastic. They deserve to have a team in the semi-final or the final.

"The quarter-finals four years and two years ago was OK. This time it is not good enough. These players should at least have been in the final. It's more our fault rather than the force of Portugal."

In November 2006, The Mirror reported on Sven Goran Eriksson's relationship with Swedish PR executive Katarina Huss.

Meanwhile the Daily Mail wrote: "Nancy Dell'Olio has admitted for the first time that her relationship with Sven-Goran Eriksson is over and has spoken about her relationship with Italian TV presenter Michele Cucuzza ..."

In July 2007, Sven-Goran Eriksson met the Manchester City players as he was being lined up to coach the club subject to Manchester City's prospective new owner Thaksin Shinawatra gaining 75% of the club's shares.

With Shinawatra's shareholding in place, Sven-Goran Eriksson was duly confirmed as Manchester City's manager.

In spite of a successful season for Manchester City, on 29 April 2008, the BBC reported that Sven-Goran Eriksson had been told he will be sacked as Manchester City manager at the end of the season.

On 2 June 2008, it was officially confirmed that Manchester City and Sven-Goran Eriksson had parted company.

The next day it was announced that Sven-Goran Eriksson had been appointed the coach of Mexico.

However, on 2 April 2009 Sven-Goran Eriksson was sacked as Mexico's coach after their World Cup qualifying defeat against Honduras left them fourth out of six in their group.

In July 2009, Sven-Goran Eriksson joined the English League 2 side Notts County as director of football.

However, in February 2010, Sven-Goran Eriksson resigned as Notts County's director of football and with the club in financial difficulties, he wrote off the £2.5m owed to him.

In March 2010, Sven-Goran Eriksson was appointed coach of Ivory Coast, however he left the post after the 2010 World Cup.

On 3 October 2010, Sven-Goran Eriksson was signed as Leicester City's new manager.

However, just a year later, on 25 October 2011, Sven-Goran Eriksson left his post as Leicester City manager by mutual consent.

In January 2024, Sven revealed that he had been diagnosed with cancer.

In August 2024, Amazon released a documentary film about him.