Sven-Goran Eriksson: Former England manager dies from pancreatic cancer aged 76

The Swede, who was the first overseas manager to coach England, revealed he had pancreatic cancer last year and had spoken about how he was resigned to death after a “good life”.

His agent Bo Gustavsson revealed that he died this morning surrounded by family.

Prince William, who has been president of the Football Association since 2006, led the tributes, saying: “Sad to hear about the passing of Sven-Göran Eriksson. I met him several times as England manager and was always struck by his charisma and passion for the game. My thoughts are with his family and friends. A true gentleman of the game.” In January, Eriksson, who was appointed in 2001 and led the England team to three quarter-finals including two World Cups and one Euros, said he had “best case a year” to live.

Speaking at the end of the Amazon Prime Video documentary Sven 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.”

Eriksson was in charge of England for five years before leaving after the 2006 World Cup. In March, a long-held dream of managing Liverpool was fulfilled when Eriksson took charge of a ‘Legends’ charity match at a packed Anfield.

In January, the former Manchester City and Leicester manager told Swedish Radio P1: “Everyone can see that I have a disease that’s not good, and everyone supposes that it’s cancer, and it is. But I have to fight it as long as possible. It’s pancreatic – you can’t operate on it. It can be slowed.

“I know that in the best case it’s about a year, in the worst case even less. Or in the best case I suppose even longer. I don’t think the doctors I have can be totally sure, they can’t put a day on it. It’s better not to think about it. You have to trick your brain. I could go around thinking about that 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, see the positive sides of things and don’t bury yourself in setbacks, because this is the biggest setback of them all of course.”