Ex-England manager Eriksson says has cancer, ‘a year’ to live

(FILES) Swedish head coach of the English team Sven-Goran Eriksson looks on during a training session at the Mittelbergstadion in Buhlertal 28 June 2006. – Former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has at best “maybe a year” to live, he said on January 11, 2024. The 75-year-old Swede, who has managed a slew of high-profile teams and took England to World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006, announced in February last year that he was stepping back from public appearances “due to health. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP)

Ex-England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has at best “maybe a year” to live, he said Thursday.

The 75-year-old Swede, who has managed a slew of high-profile teams and took England to World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006, announced in February last year that he was stepping back from public appearances “due to health issues”.

“Everyone understands that I have a disease that is not good. Everyone guesses that it’s cancer, and it is. But I have to put up a fight as long as I can,” Eriksson told public broadcaster Sveriges Radio in an interview.

Eriksson said that in his doctor’s assessment he had “at best maybe a year (to live), at worst a little less”.

“You have to trick your brain,” he added.

“I could think about it all the time, and sit home and mope, feel unlucky and so on. I think it’s easy to end up like that,” he told the broadcaster.

“See the positive in things,” he said.

“Don’t bury yourself due to adversity. This is the biggest adversity of course, but try to make something good out of it.”

Born February 5, 1948 in Sunne in western Sweden, Eriksson, who goes by “Svennis” to Swedes, found success as