Sven-Göran Eriksson

Sven-Göran Eriksson (born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish retired football manager and former player.

Sven-Göran Eriksson was born on 5 February 1948 in Sunne and raised in Torsby, both in Värmland, Sweden.

His father, also named Sven, was a bus conductor and his mother, Ulla, 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 FF, 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.

After an unassuming 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 both the UEFA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup (the last edition of the latter trophy before its abolition) and reached the final of the European Cup.

Eriksson later managed the national teams of England, Mexico, Philippines and the Ivory Coast, as well as Manchester City and Leicester City in England.

Eriksson has coached in ten countries: Sweden, Portugal, Italy, England, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, China and the Philippines.

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.

His 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.

They finished second in the Allsvenskan and won the Svenska Cupen for the first time in the club's history, defeating Åtvidabergs 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.

Göteborg 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.

At Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, Göteborg managed to score a late deciding goal, and took a 1–0 score with them to the away fixture, which they won 3–0, and with it, the 1981–82 UEFA Cup by an aggregate score of 4–0.

Eriksson's international breakthrough came during the spring of 1982, when he led IFK Göteborg to the first ever UEFA Cup for a Swedish club, defeating Valencia in the quarter finals and Kaiserslautern in the semi-finals.

Awaiting them in the finals was Hamburger SV.

His club's success sparked interest in his skills from other clubs, leading him to leave Göteborg in end of June 1982.

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.

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.