Former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson dies at 76: what was the cause of death?

Former England and Manchester City manager Sven-Göran Eriksson has died at the age of 76 following a long illness.

Eriksson’s cancer diagnosis

In January 2024, the Swede was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, with doctors telling him that he would have one year to live “in the best case scenario”.

After the news of his terminal illness was made public, Eriksson made one of his final public appearances in March at Anfield, the home of Liverpool, his favourite club when he was growing up.

The ex-England boss was in charge of a Liverpool Legends XI made up of former Reds stars such as Ian Rush, John Barnes, John Aldridge, Jerzy Dudek, Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio, Djibril Cissé and Ryan Babel.

Sven’s final emotional message: “Take care of your live. And life it”

In a recently released Amazon Prime Video documentary entitled ‘Sven’, Eriksson shared an emotional final message, which will be many people’s lasting memory of him.

“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.”

Eriksson’s distinguished coaching career

After a nine-year playing career in Sweden, Erkisson started out as a coach with Degerfors and and IFK Göteborg in his homeland, winning the UEFA Cup with the latter in 1982.

From there, he moved abroad, initially to Portugal and then Italy, where he coached Roma, Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Lazio. In addition to three Portuguese league titles with Benfica, Eriksson won seven trophies, including Serie A, with Lazio, and the Coppa Italia with Roma and Sampdoria.

Although he coached Manchester City, Leicester City and Mexico later in his career, he is also remembered for a five-spell managing England between 2001 and 2006. Despite having some hugely talented players at his disposal (Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Owen), the Swede wasn’t able to take the Three Lions past the quarterfinals in the three major tournaments he was in charge of.