Sven-Göran Eriksson

Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player.

After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 trophies with a variety of league clubs in Sweden, Portugal and Italy; he became the first manager to win league-and-cup doubles in three countries. In European competition, he won both the UEFA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup (the last edition of the latter trophy before its abolition) and reached the final of the European Cup.

Eriksson later managed the national teams of England, Mexico, Philippines and the Ivory Coast, as well as two clubs in England. Eriksson has coached in ten countries: Sweden, Portugal, Italy, England, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, China, and the Philippines.

Early life

Eriksson was born in Sunne and raised in Torsby, both in Värmland. His father, also named Sven, was a bus conductor, and his mother, Ulla, worked in a textile store. He was nicknamed "Svennis" after his younger brother Lars-Erik's attempt to pronounce his name; Eriksson went on to become known, and is generally referred to in Sweden mononymously, by this nickname.

Playing career

Eriksson made his debut for Swedish football Division 4 team Torsby IF at the age of 16. He 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 also worked as a physical education teacher in Örebro.

He was heavily influenced by Karlskoga's player-manager, Tord Grip, who favoured the English style of play that Bob Houghton and Roy Hodgson had brought to the country. Eriksson retired from playing in 1975 at the age of 27, after giving up on his dream of playing professional football; he summed up his brief playing career by saying "I was looked upon as a distinctly average defender, but someone who rarely made mistakes".

Management career

Degerfors IF

Having retired as a player, Eriksson received an offer to become Tord Grip's assistant at Degerfors. A year later, Grip was appointed assistant manager of the Sweden national team, and Eriksson became Degerfors' manager. His stint as manager lasted from 1 January 1977 to 31 December 1978. He led the team to the playoffs in 1977 and 1978, winning the latter and promotion to Swedish Football Division 2.

IFK Göteborg

His success with assistant manager Tom Chadney by his side attracted the attention of much larger clubs, and Eriksson was appointed manager of IFK Göteborg on 1 January 1979. The move was such a surprise that many of the players had never even heard of him.

They finished second in the Allsvenskan and won the Svenska Cupen for the first time in the club's history, defeating Åtvidabergs FF 6–1 in the final. Although results had improved, the team's style did not make him popular. He put results ahead of flair, emphasised tactical awareness and work rate, and he reined in the team's old cavalier style.

As a consequence, the average attendance fell by 3,000 to 13,320. Like Grip, he was influenced by Houghton and Hodgson and played a 4–4–2 with zonal marking and heavy pressing. Göteborg finished third in the 1980 season and second again in 1981. The following season, they won the treble. The team won the League and subsequent playoff, the Svenska Cupen, defeating Östers IF 3–2 in the final.

Eriksson's 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. Awaiting them in the finals was Hamburger SV.

At Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, Göteborg managed to score a late deciding goal, and took a 1–0 score with them to the away fixture, which they won 3–0, and with it, the 1981–82 UEFA Cup by an aggregate score of 4–0. His club's success sparked interest in his skills from other clubs, leading him to leave IFK Göteborg in August 1982.

Benfica

Eriksson's European success led to him being recruited by Portuguese club Benfica, which he joined on 1 September 1982. 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 then moved on to Italy, becoming manager of Roma.

Roma

Eriksson joined Roma on 1 July 1984. He was not as immediately successful at the ''Giallorossi'' as he had been before, but nonetheless still won a Coppa Italia with the club in 1986. Eriksson left the club on 6 May 1987.

Fiorentina and return to Benfica

Eriksson was manager of Fiorentina from 1 July 1987. Eriksson's stint with the club was trophyless, and he moved back to Benfica for a second stint in 1989. Eriksson led the Portuguese side to the final of the 1989–90 European Cup (losing to Milan 1–0) in 1990, and another Primeira Divisão title in 1991. Eriksson left the club in June 1992.

Sampdoria

In July 1992, Eriksson returned to Italy to lead Sampdoria, where he managed to win another Coppa Italia in 1994. In contrast to his predecessor, Vujadin Boškov, he introduced a defensive system which was based on zonal marking rather than man-marking. He left in June 1997.

Lazio

In December 1996, Eriksson agreed to leave Sampdoria at the end of the season, to manage Blackburn Rovers. In February 1997, however, he went back on his word, and opted to stay in Italy and become the new manager at Lazio, effective 1 July 1997. Eriksson stated family reasons for wanting to stay in Italy, and Rovers would go on to appoint Roy Hodgson.

Eriksson employed fellow Swede Tord Grip as his assistant. Eriksson finally found major success in Italy with Lazio when he won the Coppa Italia and the Italian Supercup in 1998 and 2000, the European Cup Winners' Cup (1999, the final tournament), and the Serie A title (the '' Scudetto'') in 2000 – only the second time that the Roman club had won the Italian championship in their history.

England national football team

Following the resignation of England manager Kevin Keegan after a home loss to Germany in October 2000, The Football Association (FA) pursued Eriksson as his replacement. Eriksson had initially agreed to take over after the expiration of his contract in June 2001, but decided to resign his post early at Lazio, and he officially began his England duties in January of that year. Eriksson was the first non-British manager to be appointed coach of the England national football team.

2002 World Cup

Eriksson turned around England's bid for qualification for the 2002 World Cup, with several crucial wins over lesser opposition, before his first real test – England's rematch with Germany in Munich on 1 September 2001. England defeated their long-time rivals 5–1. Despite this, England still needed a late equaliser at home to Greece to qualify automatically.

At the finals, England drew with Sweden, defeated their other longtime rivals Argentina 1–0, and drew with Nigeria to qualify in second place from the four-team group. They went on to defeat Denmark 3–0 in the Round of 16, before losing 2–1 to ten-man Brazil, who went on to win the tournament.

UEFA Euro 2004

After winning their first qualifying match in Slovakia, England drew at home with Macedonia and were then booed off by their fans after losing a friendly to Australia. England, however, won their next five qualifiers and, needing a point from the last game to qualify, drew 0–0 in Turkey to top the group.

In their first match in the finals, England were winning 1–0 against France after 90 minutes, but lost after Zinedine Zidane scored twice in injury time. A 3–0 victory over Switzerland and a 4–2 victory over Croatia, however, meant England still qualified for a quarter-final against the hosts Portugal. There, Michael Owen gave England an early lead only for Hélder Postiga to equalize. England then had a Sol Campbell goal disallowed before ultimately losing on penalties.

2006 World Cup

Regardless of the antipathy to Eriksson expressed by some in the English media, the England team professed total confidence in him, and in July 2004, threatened to strike during a media-driven campaign to oust him. The FA renewed and extended Eriksson's contract by two further years to include UEFA Euro 2008. On 7 September 2005, Eriksson's England team lost a World Cup qualifying match against Northern Ireland 1–0, the first time that England had lost to that team since 1972, and one of only five competitive games lost during Eriksson's tenure.

Although it was England's first-ever defeat in a World Cup or European Championship qualifying match under Eriksson, it brought his position under pressure and he was criticized, both by some fans and by commentators from the BBC
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