Sven-Göran “Svennis” Eriksson is suffering from cancer, which can no longer be treated, according to his story.
Swedish soccer coaching legend Sven-Göran “Svennis” Eriksson75, has given a devastating interview for Swedish radio. Eriksson has incurable cancer.
– I know that at best I have about a year left, at worst a little less.
Eriksson says he’s trying to be positive about his remaining time.
– I can fool my head. I could dwell on it all the time, sit at home, be rude and think I’m unlucky. That would be easy. I try to be positive. This is obviously the biggest setback, but I’m trying to do something good.
Eriksson said about a year ago that he was suffering from health problems, but did not reveal further details at the time. At that time, he stepped aside from his job as sports director of Karlstad FK.
According to Eriksson, everything happened out of the blue. He had run a five kilometer run the day before. Then he suddenly had a seizure. Investigations revealed both a heart problem and cancer as the cause of the seizure.
– The doctors don’t know how long I had cancer. Maybe a month, maybe a year.
He has tried to live as normally as possible.
– I have to throw away all the bad thoughts that are running through my head. People say it’s impossible, but it’s not. I visit people, I talk, I am as usual. I make sure the remaining time is good.
Eriksson emphasized that he does not think about death.
– I put it aside. Who knows what will happen then? It’s a sensitive subject, it’s hard to talk about.
Eriksson, who turns 76 in February, started his coaching career at the age of 30 in the late 1970s.
He moved abroad through Degerfors and IFK Göteborg. After that, he coached outside of Sweden until 2019.
At the club team level, he managed, among others, Benfica, AS Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio, Manchester City, Leicester and in the 2010s several Chinese clubs. Achievements include winning the Uefa Cup (now the Europa League) with Gothenburg, several Portuguese championships with Benfica and the Italian championship with Lazio.
Among the national teams, Svennis coached England, Mexico, the Ivory Coast and the Philippines. Pesti in the England national team is the crown of Eriksson’s career – from 2001 to 2006 he was the head coach of the “Three Lions”, the first non-British.
During Eriksson’s era, England reached the quarterfinals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and the 2004 European Championship.
Sources: Swedish Radio Sporten, Expressen