Swedish football coach Sven-Goran Eriksson on Thursday announced he has cancer and has at best "maybe a year" to live.
The former England coach told Swedish Radio P1 he discovered he had cancer after collapsing suddenly. He said in February last year that he was reducing his public appearances because of health issues.
"Everyone understands that I have a disease that is not good, and everyone guesses that it is cancer and it is. But I have to put up a fight as long as I can," Eriksson said in an interview published Thursday.
Eriksson said he has pancreatic cancer and that it is inoperable.
"At best I have maybe a year, at worst maybe a little less,” he said.
"You have to trick your brain," he added, the 75-year-old said, adding that he is trying to think positively.
"I could go and think about it all the time and sit at home and be grumpy and think I’m unlucky and so on," he said. "I think that is easily done, that you end up there.
"No, look at things positively and don’t wallow in adversity. Because this is, of course, the biggest setback.”
"I'm not in any major pain. But I've been diagnosed with a disease that you can slow down but you cannot operate. So it is what it is."
Born Feb. 5, 1948, in Sunne in western Sweden, Eriksson, who goes by "Svennis" to Swedes, found success as a football manager after retiring from a modest career as a defender.
Eriksson was England’s first ever foreign-born coach from 2001-06 after making his name winning league titles at club level with Lazio in Italy, Benfica in Portugal and IFK Gothenburg in his native Sweden.
Eriksson led what was regarded as a "golden generation" of players, including David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney, at the World Cups in 2002 and 2006 and got the team to the quarterfinals at both tournaments before elimination by Brazil and Portugal, respectively.
In the only other major tournament under Eriksson – the European Championship in 2004 – England was also ousted at the quarterfinal stage, again by Portugal and via a penalty shootout like at the World Cup in 2006.
He left the England job in 2006 after five years.
His time in the hot seat had seen a memorable 5-1 win over Germany in a World Cup qualifier but also controversy over his personal life.
The England national team and Manchester City, one of the many clubs he coached, were among those to send their best wishes to Eriksson over X, formerly Twitter.
"Everyone at Manchester City is thinking of Sven-Göran Eriksson, and we wish to express our collective support to our former manager, and his family and friends, during this time," Manchester City said.
"Sad news this morning. Thoughts are with Sven Goran-Eriksson and his family. A brilliant coach and a special person. Loved and respected by everyone. We're all with you Sven, keep fighting," wrote Rooney on X.
Eriksson’s last coaching role was with the Philippines’ national team in 2018-19 and most recently had the role of sporting director at Karlstad, a team in Sweden’s third division.
