Sven-Goran Eriksson stood down from his most recent role as sporting director at Swedish club Karlstad 11 months ago due to health issues. Getty
Sven-Goran Eriksson stood down from his most recent role as sporting director at Swedish club Karlstad 11 months ago due to health issues. Getty
Sven-Goran Eriksson stood down from his most recent role as sporting director at Swedish club Karlstad 11 months ago due to health issues. Getty
Sven-Goran Eriksson stood down from his most recent role as sporting director at Swedish club Karlstad 11 months ago due to health issues. Getty

Sven-Goran Eriksson has 'about a year' to live after confirming he has cancer


Steve Luckings
  • English
  • Arabic

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson told a Swedish radio station he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and said he has about one year to live.

Speculation about Eriksson's health, who was manager of England for five years from 2001 to 2006 and has managed a host of top European clubs, has heightened in recent months.

He stood down from his most recent role as sporting director at Swedish club Karlstad 11 months ago due to health issues.

The 75-year-old 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.”

The former Lazio and Benfica coach told the station that he had suddenly collapsed while going for a 5km run.

After seeing his doctors, it turned out that Eriksson had suffered a stroke and also had cancer.

Eriksson presided over England's supposed "golden generation" of players including David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes and Frank Lampard, but the Three Lions persistently fell short at major tournaments.

Under Eriksson, they exited at the quarter-final stages of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups as well as Euro 2004.

He also coached the national teams of Mexico, Ivory Coast and the Philippines.

Eriksson managed Manchester City during the 2007/08 season, finishing ninth in the Premier League, before parting ways with the club in June 2008 just weeks before the Abu Dhabi-backed City Football Group takeover.

He made his name in European football by guiding unfancied Swedish side IFK Goteborg to Uefa Cup success in 1982 but it was in Italy where he established his coaching credentials, guiding Lazio to a league-and-cup double in 2000 a year after winning the European Cup Winners' Cup.

He was also briefly technical director at UAE top-flight club Al Nasr but left his post in June 2013 only four months into an 18-month contract.

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Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

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There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.

In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show. 

In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.

In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.

Timeline

2012-2015

The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East

May 2017

The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts

September 2021

Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act

October 2021

Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence 

December 2024

Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group

May 2025

The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan

July 2025

The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan

August 2025

Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision

October 2025

Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange

November 2025

180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE

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Updated: January 11, 2024, 9:28 AM