The late Sen. Goran Eriksson. The first foreign coach of England’s national football team was 76 years old. He was diagnosed with cancer last January. He has been under treatment since then. The Swedish coach breathed his last on Monday. He was the England national team coach from 2001 to 2006. Eriksson’s death was reported by his Swedish agent, Bo Gustavsson. His England agent Dean Eldredge also confirmed.
He died at his home in Sweden on Monday morning. Family members were by their side for the last time. Apart from international football, Eriksson has also coached club football with success for a long time. He has managed Europe’s top clubs like Benfica, Roma, Lazio, Manchester City, and Leicester City. Apart from England, he has also coached the national teams of Mexico, Ivory Coast, and the Philippines.
Eriksson has coached for more than four decades. Eriksson was born on February 5, 1948, in Sun, Sweden. He was a right back in his football career. After retiring in 1973, he started coaching in 1977. A year before the 2002 World Cup, England’s Football Association bosses were looking for a good coach to succeed at international level. They could not trust the local coaches at that time.
In 2001, Sweden’s Eriksson was chosen as the first foreign coach by England’s football bosses. He has the credit of winning the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup as a coach. England’s 5-1 win over Germany in Munich is regarded as one of the biggest successes of Eriksson’s coaching career. Eriksson has never coached his native Sweden’s national team. He was once considered one of the best football coaches in Europe. In total, he won 18 titles as a coach.
