Sven-Göran Eriksson (Swedish pronunciation: [svɛnˈjœ̂ːran ˈêːrɪkˌsɔn] ; 5 February 1948 – 26 August 2024) was a Swedish football player and manager. After a 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. In European competition, he won the UEFA Cup in 1982, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1999, the last edition of the tournament before its abolition, the UEFA Super Cup in 1999, and reached the European Cup final in 1990.
Eriksson later managed the national teams of England, Mexico, the Philippines and the Ivory Coast, as well as Manchester City and Leicester City in England. Eriksson coached in ten countries: Sweden, Portugal, Italy, England, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, China, and the Philippines.
Sven-Göran Eriksson was born on 5 February 1948 in Sunne and raised in Torsby, both in Värmland, Sweden. His father, also named Sven (born 1929), was a bus conductor whilst his mother, Ulla (1926–2011), 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.
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, where he also worked as a physical education teacher in Örebro.
Eriksson 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".
Having retired as a player, Eriksson received an offer to become Tord Grip's assistant at Degerfors IF. 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.
Eriksson's 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.
IFK 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. IFK 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 to the first ever UEFA Cup for a Swedish club, defeating Valencia in the quarter-finals and Kaiserslautern in the semi-finals. In the final they played Hamburger SV over two legs. In the first leg at home, IFK managed to score a late deciding goal, and took a 1–0 score with them to the away fixture. In Hamburg, they won 3–0 and thus won the 1981–82 UEFA Cup by an aggregate score of 4–0.
Eriksson's European success led to him being recruited by Portuguese club Benfica, which he joined in 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 then moved on to Italy, becoming manager of 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.
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.
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, beginning on 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 won the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana in both 1998 and 2000, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1999, its final edition), the 1999 UEFA Super Cup against recently treble-winning Manchester United, 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.
Eriksson had signed in October 2000 to be the new manager of the England national football team from June 2001, but was asked to resign by Lazio president Sergio Cragnotti in January 2001, with the club eleven points behind their capital city rivals Roma. His last game was an unexpected 2–1 home loss to Napoli, and he was succeeded by Dino Zoff.