How former teacher Sven-Goran Eriksson became ice cool England hero and unlikely playboy – before tragic cancer battle
THE scoreline still makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end: Germany 1, England 5.
In the dugout, masterminding the demolition of the old sporting enemy that day, was a thoughtful Swede who stayed ice cool amid the pandemonium around him.
England’s first foreign manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, seemed like nothing would ruffle him.
Few would have guessed — from his owlish exterior at least — that away from the football pitch he led such a tumultuous personal life.
That crazy night in Munich in 2001, now part of English footballing folklore, proved something of a high watermark for Sven and his Golden Generation of players.
His three international tournaments with England all ended at the quarter-finals.
Broken metatarsals, bodged penalties and a Ronaldinho free kick that looked to be a mis-hit denied him sporting immortality.
And his time as Three Lions coach will be remembered as much for his shenanigans off the pitch as his successes on it.
With receding grey hair, rimless specs and a demeanour seemingly as chilly as a Scandinavian fjord, he didn’t seem like a ladies’ man.
Yet appearances were very deceptive.
His glam Italian former girlfriend Nancy Dell’Olio wrote breathlessly of their first meeting: “The attraction was electric before we touched — but one touch was all it took.”
And there were affairs with Britain’s other famous Swede Ulrika Jonsson and FA secretary Faria Alam — both while he was still dating Nancy.
Elk hunting
Sven, who has died of pancreatic cancer aged 76, landed the Three Lions job after Kevin Keegan quit the post after England lost 1-0 to Germany in October 2000.
Terry Venables — who had guided England to the Euro 96 semi-final — was overlooked. Instead, the FA chose Sven, who had won Italy’s Serie A with Lazio but was largely unknown in Britain.
The elevation of a foreigner to the top job in the motherland of football was not welcomed by all.
One leading sports writer complained that England had “sold our birthright” to a “nation of seven million skiers and hammer throwers who spend half their lives in darkness”.
When Eriksson’s name was announced, I was dispatched by The Sun to his remote home village of Torsby, set in thick pine forest not far from Sweden’s border with Norway.
Many of the 4,000-odd inhabitants of the village, where temperatures can drop to -30C, were as well versed in elk hunting as they were in football.
Some said that, away from footie, Sven enjoyed Tibetan poetry and tennis — quite a departure from the usual lifestyle of the English game.
Known as Svennis in Torsby, the truck driver’s son had worked as a sports teacher before a short-lived career as a pro footballer.
A solid, right-footed defender for teams in Sweden’s lower leagues, Sven was forced to retire in 1975 after an injury, aged just 27.
After the appointment of Tord Grip — one of his old managers and later his No2 at England — at part-timers Degerfors in Sweden’s third division, he asked Sven to be his assistant.
The pair aped the English game, playing 4-4-2 formations.
When Grip took over as boss of the Swedish national team, Sven was given the Degerfors top job.
A boyhood Liverpool fan, he later said: “I was always drawn to the physical strength and commitment of the English game. It was my model in the early days in Sweden.”
In March this year he achieved a life-long dream when he was invited to Liverpool’s Anfield ground to manage the club’s Legends veterans for a day, and led the side to a 4-2 win against Ajax Legends.
At Degerfors he brought in a sports psychologist and the side won promotion.
He was on his way.
In 1979, when he was just 30, Swedish giants Gothenburg gave him the manager’s job, and three years later they won the Uefa Cup.
In 1982 he left his homeland for successful stints at Benfica in Portugal — twice — plus Italian sides Roma, Fiorentina and Lazio, before securing the England job.
In 1977 he had married Ann-Christine Pettersson, daughter of the principal of a teacher-training college where he had been a student.
They had two children, Lina, now a charity worker, and Johan, a football agent.
The couple divorced in 1994, then in 1998, while at Lazio, Sven was introduced to a raven-haired Italian with a taste in plunging necklines.
Married lawyer Nancy Dell’Olio later recalled her first impression when she met Sven at a Tuscan spa resort was that he appeared “quite distinguished but nothing special”.
She added: “Later he told me that he was completely transfixed from the first moment he saw me.”
Sven invited her to lunch and Nancy later said she had “hated” deceiving her husband Gianfranco, also a lawyer and a friend of Sven’s.
Eventually Sven asked her to leave her husband, and they broke the news to Gianfranco together.
At Christmas 1999 Sven produced “a beautiful diamond engagement ring” and they seemed set for a happy marriage.
Yet Nancy later wrote in her life story My Beautiful Game: “Little did I know that even stormier waters were lying just ahead.”
England had come calling for Sven in October 2000.
He was one of world football’s sharpest and most decorated managers, with the BBC calling him “the man with the Midas touch”.
Sven said of what has been called an impossible job: “All England managers have been declared idiots at some times in their career, even Sir Alf Ramsey.
England’s ‘first lady’
“I knew what to expect. I didn’t take the job for the money or the weather. I took it because it’s England.”
He and Nancy moved into a luxury home overlooking London’s Regent’s Park and she later described herself as “the first lady of English football”.
His first game in charge — a friendly against Spain at Villa Park in February 2001 — saw England win 3-0.
Victories against Finland, Albania, Mexico and Greece followed, with Sven the first England manager to win his first five games.
Then, on September 1, 2001, came a far greater challenge — the might of Germany in a World Cup qualifier at the Olympic Stadium in Munich.
The Germans had only ever lost one World Cup qualifier at home.
Since losing to England in the 1966 final, they had beaten the Three Lions at tournaments in 1970, 1990 and 1996.
Yet Sven’s England destroyed them, with the fifth goal scored by Liverpool’s Emile Heskey, who had a reputation for being goal shy.
To this day England fans still chant to the tune of the Village People’s Go West: “5-1 — even Heskey scored.”
Then automatic qualification for the 2002 World Cup was secured ahead of Germany with a 2-2 draw with Greece at Old Trafford.
Yet in April 2002, with the World Cup just weeks away, came news that left many flabbergasted.
Sven had been having an affair behind Nancy’s back with Ulrika Jonsson, who was 19 years his junior.
But the TV presenter later said: “This was no great passionate affair.
“It was devoid of passion. He had all this power and money, yet he was the weakest man I have ever met.”
The pair had met when she had asked for his autograph at a party thrown by Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell.
It was devoid of passion. He had all this power and money, yet he was the weakest man I have ever met
Ulrika on Sven
Ulrika added: “When news of our affair broke he didn’t confirm what went on between us.
“This meant I was left high and dry, even to the point that people believed I had made it up to get Press attention. That really angered me.”
Yet Nancy stayed with Sven, despite the affair.
Ulrika added: “I sensed he feared her. He admitted to me that she loved the attention she was getting from the media, so it’s little wonder if she didn’t want to give that up.”
In the group stage of the 2002 World Cup England beat Argentina — in one of international football’s biggest grudge matches.
In the quarter final against Brazil England scored first, then Brazil equalised in injury time.
Gareth Southgate — then a player — allegedly said of Sven’s half-time talk: “We needed Winston Churchill but got Iain Duncan Smith [referring to the “quiet man” former Tory leader].
As Sven stood on impassively in the second half, Brazil won it with a fluke free kick from Ronaldinho that wrong-footed goalie David Seaman.
It was best summed up with what became a Sven catchphrase: “First half good, second half not so good.”
Perhaps the most glorious missed chance for Sven and English football was Euro 2004 in Portugal, when teen sensation Wayne Rooney limped off with a cracked metatarsal in the quarter-final with the host nation.
England went on to lose on penalties.
That year Sven had a fling with another far younger woman — ex-model Faria Alam, an FA secretary.
She later said: “After he’d filled the dishwasher, he led me upstairs to his bedroom. He didn’t have the mindset of a super-rich man.
“He was saying how he did yoga and things like that. And I just fell in love with him, I guess.”
Matters were complicated by the fact that Faria had also had a fling with FA chief executive Mark Palios.
Yet again, Nancy stayed with Sven, who later admitted there were other lovers, including a singer, a Romanian ex-gymnast and a Swedish employee of Scandinavian Airlines.
In January 2006 it was announced he would leave his £4.5million-a-year job after that summer’s World Cup.
The tournament again ended in failure at the quarter-finals and will largely be remembered for Sven perhaps wisely allowing the Wags to grab centre stage.
But his record of 40 wins and 17 draws in 67 fixtures was not matched by his successors until Gareth Southgate’s reign.
Don’t be sorry, smile. Thank you for everything – coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic. Take care of yourself and take care of your life. And live it
Sven's farewell
Later management roles included stints with Manchester City, Notts County and Leicester City, as well as the Mexican, Ivory Coast and Philippines national teams.
His turbulent relationship with Nancy also ended.
Sven saw out his days back in Sweden with long-term partner Yaniseth Bravo Mendoza, a Panamanian former nightclub dancer 21 years his junior who he met outside a bar in Mexico City.
In January he revealed he had terminal cancer.
In a poignant Amazon documentary, he said of his impen-ding death: “Don’t be sorry, smile.
“Thank you for everything, coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic.
“Take care of yourself and take care of your life. And live it.”
A maxim he certainly abided by.
Shrewd Swede's greatest games
By Thomas Godfrey
SVEN’S Three Lions teams left fans with some spine-tingling memories.
5-1 vs Germany, 2001
Boss recalled out-of-form Michael Owen who scored a hat-trick. Skipper Steven Gerrard and Liverpool’s Emile Heskey also netted to stun 60,000 home fans in Munich.
Becks free kick, 2001
Sven kept David Beckham on against Greece and was rewarded when he lashed home a 93rd-minute free kick for a 2-2 draw and 2002 World Cup qualification.
Argentina KO’d, 2002
Four years on from being sent off against our bitter rivals, Beckham’s penalty secured a 1-0 win and eliminated them.
Argies encore, 2005
Michael Owen scored two late goals in 3-2 friendly win in Geneva
Rooney rescue, 2004
Wayne Rooney, then 18, scored twice in a comeback 4-2 Euros group stage win over Croatia.