Former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson has been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The 75-year-old told a Swedish radio station he has “at best a year” to live.
“Everyone understands that I have an illness that is not good,” he told P1.
“Everyone guesses it’s cancer and it is. But I have to fight as long as I can.”
When asked about the prognosis, Eriksson said he has “maybe at best a year, at worst a little less, or at best maybe even longer”.
The decorated ex-Three Lions gaffer added: “You can’t be absolutely sure. It is better not to think about it.
“But you can trick your brain. See the positive in things, don’t wallow in adversity, because this is the biggest adversity of course, but make something good out of it.”
Last February, Eriksson stepped down as sporting director at Karlstad Fotboll amid serious concerns about his health.
He told Karlstad’s website at the time: “I have chosen to limit my public assignments for the time being, due to health problems which are under investigation.”
Speaking to P1 about his diagnosis, Eriksson revealed he suddenly collapsed while going on a 5km run.
After consulting doctors, he was told he had suffered a stroke and had cancer.
Eriksson said: “They don’t know how long I had cancer, maybe a month or a year”.
The Swede was in charge of the Three Lions’ Golden Generation, taking charge in 2001 and leaving in 2006.
He took England to the quarter-finals in two World Cups and a European Championship.
As well as Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand, Eriksson also had aces like Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Michael Owen at his disposal.
Speaking to SunSport in 2022, Eriksson said he accepted England underachieved at the 2006 World Cup – reaching the quarter-finals in Germany.
He said his biggest regret in the job came that year, when he decided against bringing in a mental coach to work with the players. Famously, England crashed out to Portugal in a penalty shootout.
During his stellar career, he has managed 16 sides across club and country- seeing him travel the globe in pursuit of work.
He started out in his native Sweden and made his name as a top coach during spells in Italy with Sampdoria and Lazio.
After stepping aside as England boss, Eriksson spent a year in charge of Manchester City before returning to the international stage for brief stints in control of Mexico and Ivory Coast.
An abortive spell in charge of Leicester followed before he left England in 2011 to spend four years working in the emerging Chinese Super League.
In that time he managed three separate clubs, the last being a year in charge of Shenzen which came to an end late in 2017.
He brought an end to his illustrious managerial career in 2019 after leaving his post as manager of the Philippines national team.
During his time as a football boss, Eriksson’s love life was also put under the spotlight.
Fellow Swede Ulrika Jonsson, now 56, became romantically involved with Eriksson in 2002 when he had been in a relationship with Italian lawyer Nancy Dell’Olio since 1998.
Eriksson and Nancy, now 62, were later reunited, but he then had a fling with Football Association secretary Faria Alam, 57, and they split in 2007.
This story first appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.
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