Former England boss Eriksson reveals “best case a year” cancer diagnosis
Former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has said he has “best case a year” to live after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
“I’m going to resist for as long as I can,” Eriksson told a Swedish radio station.
“I have an illness that’s serious. Best case a year, I have worst case a lot less. It’s impossible to say exactly, so it’s better to not think about it.”
He insisted he’s not in “major pain”.
Eriksson became the first foreign man to manage England when he held the role between 2001 and 2006.
The 75-year-old managed the Three Lions to one of their most famous results, a 5-1 win over Germany in Munich, and was in charge as England reached three consecutive quarter-finals at major tournaments.
In full Eriksson told Swedish Radio P1: “Everyone can see that I have a disease that’s not good, and everyone supposes that it’s cancer, and it is. But I have to fight it as long as possible.
“I know that in the best case it’s about a year, in the worst case even less. Or in the best case I suppose even longer. I don’t think the doctors I have can be totally sure, they can’t put a day on it.
“It’s better not to think about it. You have to trick your brain. I could go around thinking about that all the time and sit at home and be miserable and think I’m unlucky and so on.
“It’s easy to end up in that position. But no, see the positive sides of things and don’t bury yourself in setbacks, because this is the biggest setback of them all of course.
“It just came from nothing. And that makes you shocked.
“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.”
Eriksson also had managerial spells with English sides Manchester City and Leicester City, as well as the likes of Sampdoria and Shanghai.
His most resent tenure saw him lead the Philippines between 2018 and 2019.