Swedish football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who became the first foreigner to lead the England national team, died on Monday at the age of 76.
Eriksson, a charismatic coach who guided Swedish, Portuguese and Italian clubs to major trophies in the 1980s and 1990s before taking on the England job in 2001, announced in January that he was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer.
Eriksson’s long-time agent Bo Gustavsson said Eriksson had lost his battle with cancer early on Monday, surrounded by his family.
“We knew it was going to end bad, it all went really fast in the last few weeks,” Gustavsson said.
“He has always been so positive and has had time for others and never thought of himself, and he was that until the very end,” the agent added.
His two children, Lina and Johan Eriksson, thanked all those people who had supported their father.
“I get to hear it while I’m alive and I’m incredibly grateful for that. The heart beats twice and the tears come,” they quoted Eriksson as saying in a statement.
