Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has bravely shared the news of his terminal cancer diagnosis, revealing that, in a “best-case” scenario, he has approximately a year left to live. Eriksson, who led England for five years, departed from his role as sporting director at Swedish club Karlstad 11 months ago due to health issues.
In an interview with Swedish Radio P1, the 75-year-old acknowledged the gravity of his situation:
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 expressed a pragmatic yet optimistic outlook, acknowledging the uncertainty surrounding his prognosis: “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.”
Despite the challenging circumstances, Eriksson emphasized the importance of maintaining a positive mindset: “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.”
He encouraged focusing on the positive aspects of life and avoiding being consumed by setbacks: “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.”
