Sven-Goran Eriksson suffered five strokes at once to leave doctor in floods of tears

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson left doctors in tears as the seriousness of his health issues became clear. The 76-year-old announced in January that he had around a year left to live after being diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.

Eriksson, who managed the Three Lions between 2001 and 2006, became a well-loved figure within English football, also managing Manchester City, Notts County and Leicester City after leaving the national team. A larger-than-life personality, concerns over his health first became apparent when he stepped down from his sporting director role at Swedish club Karlstad in February.

The iconic coach’s eventful life is the subject of the new Amazon Prime Video documentary SVEN, which will be released on Friday 23 August. In interviews with his two children, the seriousness of Eriksson’s condition transpired in hospital after their dad collapsed during a 5km run last year.

“I had 10 missed calls from my sister, dad’s in the emergency room,” his son Johan Eriksson said during the SVEN documentary. “He’s not in a good way. You can kind of tell when the doctor’s in tears that it’s not good. Worst possible news.”

“We found out that he had had five strokes and then you go into a state of fear. A panic mode,” Sven’s daughter Lina Eriksson added.

Reflecting on his diagnosis, Eriksson said: “One day, I woke up and I felt dizzy. Yeah, it’s cancer I have and that’s it.” He added: “The medicine, we don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m sort of scared. It takes time, a little bit of time before you can accept it. I’m still here.”

The former England boss has been determined to enjoy the time he has left, which included realising a lifelong dream by managing a team of Liverpool legends in March, the club he grew up supporting. Eriksson also found time to support the England team during Euro 2024 and has received plenty of messages from his former clubs and players, including David Beckham, who visited his home.

The introduction of the SVEN documentary sees the former Benfica and Lazio boss look back over his life which produced plenty of headlines, both for his football achievements and incidents in his personal life. “Whoever it is that said life is too short is right. I had a good life,” Eriksson said. “It was like a fairytale. You always have good memories, bad memories.

“It was not a normal life. A lot of things should have been impossible. I had a good life, maybe too good. You have to pay for it.”