Sven-Goran Eriksson has died, BBC reports.
The former coach "died this morning at his home surrounded by his loved ones", the words of the English public broadcaster.
Eriksson , who coached Lazio, Sampdoria and Roma in Italy, announced in January that he was suffering from an incurable tumor , saying that he had, in the best case scenario, "a year to live".
" I've had a good life, maybe even too good. And you have to pay for it ," the former coach said in the recently released docuseries dedicated to him, referring to the tumor he was diagnosed with a few years ago. "We're all afraid of death, but life is also about death," he said, also reported by the Daily Mail. " I hope that in the end people will say, he was a good man. But I know that not everyone will say that . I hope that you will remember me as a positive guy, who always tried to do everything possible."
The first foreign coach in the history of England, he has inextricably linked his figure to British football. But he was also an excellent Serie A coach. In Italy he arrived in the mid-eighties at Roma, where he came close to a sensational Scudetto. Then, after Fiorentina and Sampdoria, he moved to the other side of the Tiber. With Cragnotti's Lazio he won a splendid Scudetto in 1999-2000, the second in the Biancocelesti's history, and also brought home other trophies such as the Cup Winners' Cup and the Italian Super Cup . He lost a UEFA Cup final against Inter, with a sensational Ronaldo.
Then he traveled the world from Arabia to China, to Thailand. He coached several national teams: after his experience with England, he led Ivory Coast, Mexico and the Philippines. Since he announced that he had cancer, he has been a guest of some of the clubs he coached around Europe. In Italy he was welcomed to the stadium by Lazio and Sampdoria. In England he made his dream come true: sitting on the Liverpool bench during a match organized between the club's legends and Ajax.
Cagliari also remembered the coach on its social profiles: «Cagliari Calcio – reads the message – shares the condolences for the passing of Sven Goran Eriksson, great human and professional values, in his long and prestigious career as a coach and manager he contributed to the growth of football at an international level ».
(Online Union)