How Sven Goran Eriksson’s tragic cancer battle helped him heal relationship with kids…as he admits he’s ‘scared to die’
WITH a legendary career as a football manager and famously colourful love life behind him, Sven Goran Eriksson was looking forward to a long and settled retirement.
But England‘s first foreign coach was left reeling when he was been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer – after waking up and feeling dizzy.
As he was rushed to intensive care, his daughter Lina called her brother Johan to tell him: “Dad is in the emergency room. And he’s not in a good way.”
The family went into “panic mode” when they discovered that Sven had suffered five strokes. His situation was so dire that it left doctors in tears when delivering the news.
In January, he stunned the world by revealing that he had “about a year to live“.
And in a new heart-wrenching Amazon Prime documentary, set to premiere today, Sven opens up about his incredible life and career and coming to terms with having months to live.
Reflecting on receiving the agonising diagnosis from his home in Sunne, Sweden, Sven says: “It was a shock. It’s one of those which will not go away.
“But you can slow them down hopefully. I have no pain but I know it’s there. One day it will take you. Before that day, live instead of sitting down thinking about what and when it will happen.”
Now, Sven is determined to take life one day at a time and tries not to think too much about what lies ahead.
“I always feel bad to plan the future”, he says.”
“I take it as it comes. I know what I have and I know life will not last forever. Far away from that but I’m okay.”
In the film, Sven revealed that he was still undergoing treatment that will help slow down the progress of the cancer.
He solemnly says: “The medicine… we don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m sort of scared. It takes a little bit of time before we can accept it. I’m still here.”
According to Cancer Research UK, there are around 9,600 pancreatic cancer deaths every year, which comes to 26 deaths a day.
Researchers also say only five per cent of people diagnosed with the disease survive for ten years or more.
Confronted with the horrific reality that the disease will eventually take his life, Sven explains how he has been able to process the harrowing situation.
He says: “I had a good life, yes. I think we are all scared of the day it will finish – when you die. But life is about death as well. You have to learn to accept it for what it is.”
The manager, who has won 18 cups also says: “I had a good life, maybe too good, you have to pay for it.”
His positive outlook has been evident ever since he was diagnosed with the disease.
In an emotional interview with Channel 4 in March, he said: “You appreciate waking up in the morning and feeling well and normally you don’t do that.
“You take it for granted. In the beginning, when you get the diagnosis coming from nowhere, it’s like a shock, but after a while, you learn to live with it.”
I had a good life, yes. I think we are all scared of the day it will finish – when you die. But life is about death as well. You have to learn to accept it for what it is.”
Sven Goran Eriksson
One of the documentary’s most gut-wrenching moments is when Sven offers his last goodbye and thanks players, coaches, and fans.
He says: “Today I have a normal life and I am not thinking about what’s going to happen tomorrow or the day after. Otherwise, you sit, do not, and think pity of yourself. No. Leave it.
“I don’t talk about it very much. It is what it is. I can’t beat it, probably. Anyhow, life is beautiful.
“Hopefully at the end people will say he was a good man but everyone will not say that. I hope you will remember me as [a] positive, getting to do everything he could.
“Don’t be sorry. Smile. Thank you for everything. Coaches, players, the crowds, it’s been fantastic. Take care of yourself and take care of your life and live it. Bye.”
Sven has even identified Fryken Lake, near his Swedish home, as a possible final resting place.
Explaining his decision, he says: “I always thought it’s a great place to sleep,” he said. “The ashes could be thrown into the water here. It feels like home.”
Reconnection with children
Before Sven’s highly publicised relationship with Nancy Dell’Olio and his affairs with Ulrika Jonsson and Farria Alam, he was married to Ann-Christine Pettersson.
The pair were married between 1977 and 1994. According to him, the relationship ended because he cheated on her with Graziella Mancinelli.
They had two children together – son Johan, 45, who now works as a football agent and Lina, 37. They have both rallied behind him during his difficult times and appear in the documentary.
But it wasn’t always a smooth ride for the family. In the film, Sven opens up about questioning his parenting during the breakdown of his marriage.
He says: “When you get divorced, you feel bad – and I did. At that time I don’t think I was a great dad. But before that and after that I guess I was okay.
“It’s good to see that the children found the right way and have a good life. I am proud of them. Extremely proud.”
Lina also talks about reconnecting with her father and how difficult it has been to see him go through cancer.
She says: “He’s a very black-and-white person when it comes to how he’s feeling. Everything’s good, or it’s s**t.
“Every time coming back to the house, I see the clear difference in deteriorating. That’s really, really hard to see.”
“I think it has taken time to process and I think he has come a long way now than initially”, Lina adds.
“It’s only very recently that I’ve been able to reconnect with dad and to have a very different relationship with him than I had had as a teenager.
“You realise the value of life and that what you thought was important is really not that important.”
He’s a very black-and-white person when it comes to how he’s feeling. Everything’s good, or it’s s**t. Every time coming back to the house, I see the clear difference in deteriorating. That’s really, really hard to see.”
Lina Eriksson
Lina also spoke about her father’s fears of his treatment being stopped if he shows signs of the side effects he’s suffering.
“He really wants to continue with the treatment to try and stop the growth of the cancer as much as possible”, she says.
“So for him, any kind of side effect or challenge or anything like that, he just tries to fight it because he’s so scared that they will stop the treatment for him.”
In a touching and emotional moment, she adds: “It’s hard to imagine life without him.”
Partner’s ‘hope’
Following his divorce Sven has a nine-year relationship with lawyer and Strictly star Nancy Dell-Olio and well documented affairs with Ulrika Jonsson and FA secretary Faria Allam, who appears in the documentary.
Talking candidly in the documentary, he says “sex is one of the good things in life for all of us” and Nancy, 62, reveals how much she loved being “the first lady of football.”
But for the last 15 years, Sven has been in a relationship with Yaniseth del Carmen Bravo Mendoza, a former exotic dancer he met in a nightclub in Mexico City.
Yaniseth mainly speaks Spanish. Thankfully, Sven is bilingual and had no problem communicating with her when they first met.
In his autobiography he revealed that she approached him and “said her name was Yaniseth and that she worked as a dancer a a restaurant and nightclub not far away.
“She invited me to come and watch her when she danced.”
Symptoms of pancreatic cancer
PANCREATIC cancer doesn't always cause symptoms in its early stages.
As the cancer grows and you do begin to show signs, these may come and go and be unspecific, making it hard to diagnose, according to Pancreatic Cancer UK.
Common symptoms include:
- Indigestion – a painful, burning feeling in your chest with an unpleasant taste in your mouth
- Tummy or back pain – it may start as general discomfort or tenderness in the tummy area and spread to the back, which get worse lying down and feel better is you sit forward
- Diarrhoea and constipation – see a GP if you have runny poos for more than seven days, especially if you’ve lost weight as well
- Steatorrhoea – pale, oily poo that’s bulky, smells horrible and floats, making it hard to flush
- Losing a lot of weight without meaning to
- Jaundice – yellow skin and eyes, as well as dark pee, pale poo and itchy skin
After chatting and swapping numbers, he invited her to dinner in his apartment the next day.
The following year, Yaniseth, who had a five-year-old son then, visited Sweden for the first time and spent Christmas with him and his children.
Friends describe his devotion to the 54-year-old as “second to none” and say his two children are “fond of her”.
In the film, she tearfully speaks about how hopeful she is that Sven can still beat the disease.
“I’m trying to be calm for his sake because he’s making such a huge effort”, she says.
“We’ve been together fifteen years and I’m hoping that we’ll be together for many years to come. I’ll never lose this hope. I can’t.”
Yaniseth has been a source of support for Sven and continues to stand by his side in his last days.
We’ve been together fifteen years and I’m hoping that we’ll be together for many years to come. I’ll never lose this hope. I can’t.
Yaniseth del Carmen Bravo Mendoza
Earlier this year, she was pictured next to him at a Swedish sports awards ceremony as he received a standing ovation from the audience.
Afterwards, she gave a brief interview to Swedish media and gushed about her man. She said: “It feels good to be by Sven’s side. There are so many people who come forward and say nice things. Now I understand how big he is.”
Sven appears to share Yaniseth’s hope. In January, he spoke about his determination to “fight as long as I can”.
Wooed by yoga talk
FARIA Alam has revealed that she fell for Sven-Goran Eriksson because he had charmed her by talking about art, poetry and yoga.
She had a fling with the Swede after joining the FA as a secretary in 2003.
Speaking about it in the Amazon Prime documentary Sven, Faria, now 58, said: “He didn’t have the mindset of a super-rich man. He talked to me about poetry, he talked to me about art.
“He was saying how he did yoga and things like that.
“And I just fell in love with him, I guess. And that lit the fuse for all this to explode.” But the lovers were found out. At first, the FA denied it but emails not only proved it but confirmed that she also had a relationship with the FA chief Mark Palios.
Sven, 76, says: “I felt very sorry for her. She lost the job and two members of the FA lost the job.”
Faria signed two deals to sell her story for £300,000 after she had resigned — on the advice of Sven.
But she was hurt by being portrayed as a “disgusting gold digger person”.
She says on the show: “I’m the person that’s the bad person, and I was the scapegoat for them to be relieved of any responsibility.”
Incredible career
Sven is one of the most respected coaches in all of the sport and has won the admiration of players such as David Beckham and Wayne Rooney.
His management career began in Sweden, but his rise to prominence came when he found success with Benfica in Portugal.
He then moved to Italy, where he managed multiple clubs. But his biggest success there came when he led Lazio to win several trophies.
In 2001, he made history by becoming England’s first-ever foreign coach. He took the team to three major tournaments – the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004, and the World Cup in 2006.
He reached the quarterfinals in all three competitions. The penalties defeat at the hands of Portugal in the 2006 World Cup was his last game with England.
Since then, he has managed other teams, including Premier League side Manchester City and the Mexican and Ivory Coast national teams.
In his documentary, David Beckham said: “I loved him from day one. He made me captain. The confidence he had in me was so important.
“The way he protected the players, the way he treated the players, it was a breath of fresh air.”
SVEN is on Prime Video in the UK, Ireland and Nordics on August 23.