Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has a year to live in a “best-case scenario”.

The 75-year-old is famous for having led the Three Lions of England through the World Cup finals in 2002 and 2006, losing in the quarter-finals on both occasions.

Eriksson, in February 2023, had to resign from his role at Swedish club Karlstad due to “health issues”.

“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,” Eriksson said in an appearance on Swedish Radio P1.

Eriksson said he was trying not to think about his illness, adding: “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,” Eriksson added.

“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 began his career at Sweden’s Degerfors IF, before taking charge of Benfica for an immensely successful spell between 1982-84.

He also won titles at AS Roma, Sampdoria and Lazio before becoming England’s first foreign coach in 2001.

Despite only losing five competitive games, Eriksson’s time at England was a rollercoaster ride, with some superb performances on the field accompanied by scandals off the pitch.

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