Sporting Witness
Sporting Witness
Sven-Goran Eriksson: England's first foreign manager
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January 13, 2024
9 minutes
Available for over a year
In 2000, Sven-Goran Eriksson got the job as manager of England’s men’s football team. He was the first non-English person to do the job.
Some in England were sceptical about an overseas coach when Sven moved from his post at Lazio in Italy to succeed Kevin Keegan as England boss.
Sven tells Uma Doraiswamy about the media’s reaction to this sporting first, his quest to understand the Liverpudlian accent of some of his new players and how it felt to go out of tournaments on penalties.
The Swede led England to the quarter-finals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cup and 2004 Euros.
He spoke to Sporting Witness a few days ago, on the day he told the world that having been diagnosed with cancer he has, at best, a year to live.
(Photo: England coach Sven Goran Eriksson at the 2002 World Cup. Credit: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)