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Sven-Goran Eriksson Illness

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6 months ago

January 12, 2024

Sven-Goran Eriksson is a Swedish football manager and former player who was born on 5 February 1948 in Sunne, Sweden. He made his debut for Swedish football Division 4 team Torsby IF at the age of 16 and later switched clubs to SK Sifhälla after moving to Säffle to study economics. In 1972, he joined Swedish football Division 2 team KB Karlskoga FF, where he worked as a physical education teacher in Örebro. Eriksson was heavily influenced by Karlskoga's player-manager, Tord Grip, who favored the English style of play brought to the country by Bob Houghton and Roy Hodgson.

Sven-Goran Eriksson retired from professional football at 27 in 1975. He later had a successful career in club management, winning 18 trophies with Swedish, Portuguese, and Italian league clubs. He won the UEFA Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup in European competitions. After retiring, Eriksson was offered to become Tord Grip's assistant at Degerfors, and later the assistant manager of the Sweden national team. He managed Degerfors from 1977 to 1978, leading the team to the playoffs and promotion to Swedish Football Division 2.

Eriksson's success with assistant manager Tom Chadney attracted the attention of much larger clubs, and he was appointed manager of IFK Göteborg on 1 January 1979. His international breakthrough came during the spring of 1982 when he led IFK Göteborg to the first-ever UEFA Cup for a Swedish club, defeating Valencia in the quarter-finals and 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the semi-finals. Eriksson left the club in June 1982.

Eriksson's European success led to him being recruited by the Portuguese club Benfica, which he joined at the end of June. Eriksson's influence was immediate, winning the Primeira Divisão, the Taça de Portugal, and finishing runners-up in the 1982–83 UEFA Cup to Anderlecht. After winning a second consecutive league title, Eriksson moved on to Italy, becoming manager of Roma.

In July 1992, Eriksson returned to Italy to lead Sampdoria, where he managed to win another Coppa Italia in 1994. He left in June 1997. In December 1996, Eriksson agreed to leave Sampdoria to manage Blackburn Rovers, but in February 1997, he opted to stay in Italy and become the new manager at Lazio. Eriksson employed fellow Swede Tord Grip as his assistant, and he later managed the national teams of England, Mexico, the Philippines, and the Ivory Coast, as well as two clubs in England.