Sven-Göran Eriksson

Sven-Göran Eriksson

Personal information
Full name	Sven-Göran Eriksson
Position(s)	Right back (retired)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1966–1971	Torsby IF
1971–1973	SK Sifhälla
1973–1975	KB Karlskoga
Managerial career
1977–1978	Degerfors
1979–1982	Göteborg
1982–1984	Benfica
1984–1987	Roma
1987–1989	Fiorentina
1989–1992	Benfica
1992–1997	Sampdoria
1997–2001	Lazio
2001–2006	England
2007–2008	Manchester City
2008–2009	Mexico
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sven-Göran Eriksson (, born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager.

Eriksson was a Swedish football player and was forced to retire early from an unremarkable playing career in the Swedish lower leagues, due to injury in 1975. He went on to become a successful club football manager from 1978 to 2001, in the Swedish, Portuguese and Italian top football divisions, most notably with Italian club Lazio. During this time Eriksson achieved several national league, domestic cup and two notable UEFA competition wins. With his achievements in this period, Eriksson is so far the only manager who has achieved the league-and-cup double in three different countries (Sweden, Portugal and Italy).

On leaving Lazio, he controversially became the first foreign manager of the English national team, succeeding Kevin Keegan in 2001. Eriksson had a relatively long spell as England manager, from 2001 to 2006, managing the team for two World Cups and a European Championship tournament in between. During this time, he was as controversial in the English press for his off-field activities and rate of pay, as for any perceived failings as a manager.

While being steadily and repeatedly supported by the Football Association, and having attained a good overall statistical record with England, after poor performances it was announced in January 2006 that Eriksson would step down after the World Cup in that June, which England subsequently exited at the quarter-final stage. Failure to qualify for Euro 2008 the following year resulted in Eriksson's replacement, his former assistant Steve McClaren's dismissal after only 18 games in charge, compared to Eriksson's 67 game spell with England.

After a year out of the game, in July 2007 Eriksson agreed to a three-year contract with the recently taken over top-flight but struggling English club Manchester City worth £2 million a year plus bonuses, agreed with their wealthy new Thai owner Thaksin Shinawatra. After a good start to the season, with his early signings creating an impact, it was announced by many news sources that in a surprise move, Shinawatra wished to replace Eriksson in May 2008 after only one full season, ostensibly for a poor second half of the season. On 2 June 2008, Eriksson officially left Manchester City. On 3 June 2008, he was officially signed to become the manager of the Mexican national team, but was sacked on the 2 of April 2009.

Playing career

Born in Sunne and raised in Torsby, in Värmland, Eriksson had an unremarkable playing career playing as a right-back in the lower divisions of Swedish football. The highest level he played at was Division 2 with Karlskoga, where he met Tord Grip, before being forced to retire prematurely due to a knee injury in 1975. aged only 27.

Management career

Degerfors

After retirement, Eriksson received an offer to become Grip's assistant at Degerfors. A year later, Grip was appointed assistant manager of the Swedish national team, and Eriksson became Degerfors' manager, winning promotion to Division 2 in 1978.

Göteborg

His success with vice manager Tom Chadney by his side attracted the attention of much larger clubs, and Eriksson joined Göteborg in 1979. He won the Swedish Cup in his first season, and a "treble" of League, Cup and UEFA Cup (Göteborg beating Hamburg 4-0 in the final) in 1982.

Benfica

Eriksson's European success led to him being head-hunted by Portuguese club Benfica, and he had a similarly quick impact there, Benfica winning the Portuguese Championship, the Portuguese Cup and finishing runners-up in the UEFA Cup. After a second Championship the following year, Eriksson moved on to Italy, becoming trainer of Roma.

Roma

He was not as immediately successful at Roma as he had been before, but he still won a Coppa Italia in 1986.

Fiorentina and return to Benfica

After a trophyless two years at Fiorentina, Eriksson moved back to Benfica for a second stint in 1989, where he led the Portuguese side to the final of the European Cup (losing to Milan 1-0) in 1990, and another League title in 1991.

Sampdoria

In 1992 Eriksson returned to Italy to try his luck again, with Sampdoria, where he managed to win another Coppa Italia in 1994.

Lazio

Eriksson finally found major success in Italy when he joined Lazio in 1997 (after controversially reneging on a deal to join English club Blackburn Rovers); with Lazio he won the Coppa Italia and the Italian Supercup in 1998 and 2000, the European Cup Winners' Cup (1999 - the very last 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. That season had begun with glory in the UEFA Super Cup, winning 1-0 against Manchester United. Bankrolled by Sergio Cragnotti's investment in the team - some £274 million in over 4 seasons - Eriksson amassed trophies on a remarkable scale, and because of this many fans consider him to be Lazio's most successful manager ever.

England manager

World Cup 2002

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

Eriksson turned round England's bid for qualification for the 2002 FIFA 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 crushed their long-time rivals 5-1. Despite this England still needed a late equalizer at home to Greece to automatically qualify, and England's initially strong performance in the 2002 World Cup (when in a group stage with Nigeria, Argentina and Sweden) finals culminated in a 2-1 quarter finals loss to 10-man Brazil, who subsequently went on to win the tournament.

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. However England 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 Zinédine Zidane scored twice in injury time. However, a 3-0 victory over Switzerland and a 4-2 victory over Croatia meant England still qualified for the quarter-finals, where they lost to the hosts Portugal on penalties, but Sol Campbell had a goal controversially disallowed in normal time with the score at 1-1.

World Cup 2006

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. Although it was only Eriksson's first ever defeat in a World Cup or European Championship qualifying match, it brought his position under unprecedented pressure and he was criticized, both by some fans and by BBC commentators, for his lack of charisma and tactical awareness. Criticism continued as England scraped a 1-0 victory over Austria in a game which saw David Beckham controversially sent off. Some of this criticism was answered, however, as England put in a much improved performance, despite the absence of David Beckham through suspension and Sol Campbell and Steven Gerrard through injury, in a 2-1 win against Poland.

In 2006, he was recorded saying he would be willing to leave England to manage Aston Villa if England won the World Cup, after being duped into believing that a wealthy Arab would buy the club and wanted him as manager. The wealthy "Arab" was in fact the "Fake Sheikh", an undercover News of the World reporter.

On 23 January, the Football Association announced that Eriksson would leave his job after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and it was thought that the News of the World allegations played a part in this decision. This was later denied by both parties with Eriksson explaining that there was a prior arrangement to terminate his contract immediately after the World Cup. Following a lengthy period of public and media speculation as to his successor the FA later announced that Steve McClaren, Eriksson's assistant, would take over the reins after the World Cup.

The week before England's first game in Germany, England beat Hungary 3-1 and Jamaica 6-0 at home.

England were unbeaten after the group stage of the tournament, with wins against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, followed by a draw against Sweden. The manner of these results were considered to be far from satisfactory. Eriksson attracted further negative media attention as a consequence.

A David Beckham trademark free kick was enough to see Eriksson's England past Ecuador in a lacklustre 1-0 encounter. However, Eriksson once again fell to nemesis Luiz Felipe Scolari's Portugal. They defeated England 3-1 on penalties with the score 0-0 after extra time, with Beckham lost to injury and Wayne Rooney sent off for stomping on Ricardo Carvalho. The result was Eriksson's third successive exit in a major tournament quarter-final. In his farewell speech, Eriksson wished England well and singled out Rooney for special praise, advising the press not to blame the youngster's dismissal for England's exit.

During his time as England manager Eriksson was constantly in the public eye due to various affairs whilsts dating at the time current partner Nancy Dell'Olio. The women who he had affairs with were; famous Swedish television presenter Ulrika Johnson and his secretary at the Football Association (F.A), Faria Alam, who incidentally also had sexual relations with FA chief executive Mark Palios.

Sven was controversially pipped to the prestigious title of "Durex Man of the Year" by Park Chu-Young in 2006.

Notable feats as England manager

• Germany 1-5 England World Cup qualifier 2001
• England 1-0 Argentina 2002 World Cup
• Improved England's FIFA World ranking from 17th place (Jan 2001) to 5th place (July 2006)

(highest ranking No.4 during World Cup 2006)

• Managed to reach the quarter final in three consecutive tournaments (WC 2002, Euro 2004, WC 2006). No other European country achieved this during this period, and on an international level only Brazil. England was also, apart from Sweden, the only European country that did not suffer elimination from group play or failure to qualify during this time (2001-2006). Coincidentally, the same manager Luiz Felipe Scolari knocked England out of all three of these tournaments, first with Brazil and then twice with Portugal.
• Achieved the highest point percentage in Major Tournament Matches of all time for an England manager.
• Lost only 3 full-time competitive games and achieved top qualifying place in all three International tournaments during his five and a half years as England manager.
• Rated by the FA as England's 2nd most successful Manager after Sir Alf Ramsey.

Eriksson is the only England manager never to have led an England team out at their permanent home venue of the old Wembley Stadium or the new Wembley Stadium. Wembley was closed for redevelopment the same month that the FA asked him to take over, October 2000, and he resigned before the new Wembley Stadium was opened. Note that he didn't begin duties until January 2001.

Manchester City

In July 2007, virtually a year to the day that he left the England job, Eriksson was confirmed as the new manager of Manchester City after signing a three-year contract (Manchester City's first manager from outside of the UK). His first signing was Italian striker Rolando Bianchi from Reggina for £8.8 million. Bianchi was soon joined at the club by Swiss Under-21 international Gelson Fernandes from Sion, Brazilian midfielder Geovanni from Cruzeiro, and Bulgarian winger Martin Petrov from Atlético Madrid. He also signed Croat Vedran Ćorluka from Dinamo Zagreb, Spaniard Javier Garrido from Real Sociedad and Brazilian Elano from Shakhtar Donetsk. He was successful in his first match, defeating West Ham United 2-0 at Upton Park. During Manchester City's next game, they scored their first home goal in 288 days (since 1 Jan 2007), to take all three points from a newly promoted Derby County.

On 19 August, Manchester City won the first Manchester derby under Eriksson with a 1-0 win over league champions Manchester United with a goal from one of Sven's summer signings, Geovanni, taking City to the top of the Premier League, with 9 points and having conceded no goals. Manchester City lost their first match on 25 August, a 1-0 loss to Arsenal. On 10 February 2008, Eriksson's Manchester City once again beat Manchester United, this time at Old Trafford, beating them 2-1.

Guiding Manchester City to second place in the Premier League, Eriksson earned himself the Premier League's Manager of the Month award for August. During September 2007, City enjoyed a further two wins at home, whilst winning one point in two matches playing away from home. Meanwhile, Eriksson led the club to the fourth round of the Carling Cup, beating Norwich City at Eastlands by 1-0.

In the last game of the season, Manchester City suffered an 8–1 loss to Middlesbrough F.C.; the biggest defeat of Eriksson's career, leaving Manchester City in 9th place in the league, one place away from the UEFA Cup 2008–09 qualifying positions. Manchester City subsequently qualified through the extra place awarded to the Premier League for finishing as the highest placed team (who hadn't already qualified for a European competition) in the UEFA Fair Play League for 2007–08.

Eriksson became the first Manchester City manager since 1969-70 to win both league derby games against Manchester United and also achieved the highest point total in the club's history.

Mexico national football team

On 2 June 2008, Manchester City confirmed by club statement that they had parted company with Eriksson by "mutual consent", with Eriksson still having two years left on his contract. He was subsequently appointed as manager of Mexico a day later, though he did not formally start the role until after Mexico's World Cup qualifier against Belize on 21 June.

He was supposedly seen at Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City on 17 July 2008, however it turned out to be an English impersonator, Derek Williams and Eriksson was actually in New York. The false reports regarding the Sven double's activities resulted in a ban from all Mexican football stadiums, however, this was quickly rescinded when Ricardo Ferretti, the Pumas head coach, confirmed that the PR stunt had been an "innocent prank," which they had all been completely convinced by, and that he had "really liked the guy". Williams continued to receive VIP treatment at many Mexico City football stadiums and other venues, and his exploits resulted in a prime time TV special on the following Saturday night which "revealed all" and displayed the high regard within which "Eriksson" is held by the people of Mexico.

On 20 August 2008, he debuted as manager of the Mexican National team in a CONCACAF world cup qualifier versus Honduras. Mexico went on to win 2-1. On the next matches some results were poor, as Mexico tied with Canada and lost to Jamaica and Honduras.

On 11 February 2009, Eriksson was put under further pressure as his side lost 2-0 to the United States. Calls for him to quit or be sacked have been heard by the fans, with English club Portsmouth interested in making him their new manager. This link has been strongly increased with reports of members from the board of Portsmouth flying to Mexico City to discuss contract offers with Eriksson and a possible compensation settlement with the Federación Mexicana de Fútbol Asociación. In early March, Eriksson continued to deny that he would leave Mexico and return to manage Portsmouth, insisting that he would remain and help Mexico qualify for the World Cup. After a 3-1 World Cup Qualifying loss at Honduras, Eriksson was removed as national team coach. Eriksson had only won one of his last seven non-friendly games as manager.

Club managerial honours

• Göteborg
  • Svenska Cupen Winners 1979, 1982
  • Allsvenskan Champions 1981, 1982
  • UEFA Cup Winners 1982
• Benfica
  • Portuguese Liga Champions 1983, 1984, 1991
  • Cup of Portugal Winners 1983
  • SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira Champions 1989
  • European Cup Runners Up 1990
  • UEFA Cup Runners Up 1983
• Roma
  • Coppa Italia Winners 1986
• Sampdoria
  • Coppa Italia Winners 1994
• Lazio
  • Coppa Italia Winners 1998, 2000
  • Italian Super Cup Winners 1998, 2000
  • UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Winners 1999
  • UEFA Super Cup Winners 1999
  • Serie A Champions 2000
• England
  • FA Summer Tournament Winners 2004

Managerial statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	%
Degerfors		1977	1978
Göteborg		1979	1982	100	51	32	17	51.0
Benfica		1982	1984	60	46	11	3	76.6
Roma		1984	1987	90	41	26	23	45.5
Fiorentina		1987	1989	64	21	20	23	32.8
Benfica		1989	1992	106	72	26	8	67.9
Sampdoria		1992	1997	170	71	52	47	41.7
Lazio		1997	2001	136	78	32	26	57.3
England		2001	July 2006	67	40	17	10	59.7
Manchester City		July 2007	June 2008	45	19	11	15	42.2
Mexico		June 2008	April 2009	13	6	1	6	46.2
Total		1977	Present	851	445	228	178	65.7%

See also

• List of UEFA Cup winning managers
• List of football stadiums in Mexico

External links

• Sven-Göran Eriksson management career statistics at Soccerbase
• Official profile on TheFA.com