Sven-Göran Eriksson Born 5th February 1948

Following the resignation of England manager Kevin Keegan after a home loss to Germany in October 2000, the Football Association specifically pursued Eriksson as his replacement. Eriksson agreed to take over after his contract with Lazio ended in summer 2001, although he would resign his post early and join in January of that year. Eriksson was the first foreigner to be appointed coach of the England national team, leading to a mixed reception, ranging from surprise and intrigue to bordering on the xenophobic; the Daily Mail columnist Jeff Powell wrote:

"So, the mother country of football, birthplace of the greatest game, has finally gone from the cradle to the shame. We've sold our birthright down the fjord to a nation of seven million skiers and hammer throwers who spend half their lives in darkness."

Eriksson turned round England's bid for qualification for the 2002 World Cup, with several crucial wins over lesser opposition before his first real test, England's rematch with Germany in Munich on September 1, 2001. He passed it with flying colours - England crushing their long-time rivals 5-1. Despite this England still needed a late equaliser at home to Greece to automatically qualify, and England's initially strong performance in the 2002 World Cup (when in a group stage with Nigeria, Argentina and Sweden) finals culminated in a 2-1 quarter finals loss to Brazil, who subsequently won the tournament.

After the World Cup, Eriksson's England came under more fire after an embarrassing home loss to Australia in a friendly and a draw with Macedonia in a Euro 2004 qualifier. England qualified for Euro 2004 and at the top of their qualification group, but the team's performance was decidedly mixed, and Eriksson was again criticized for England's overly-defensive performances in their first-round loss to France and their quarter-final elimination by hosts Portugal, which England lost on penalties. Eriksson has also been questioned for often making numerous substitutions during friendlies and playing players out of position. His controlled, level-headed approach, in which he seldom loses his cool or exhibits emotional outbursts, also drew speculations as to whether he lacked the passion for the game enough to inspire his players. Despite this, Eriksson still maintains a superb competitive match record.

In February 2005, Eriksson was again criticised, after he played striker Andy Johnson on the right-wing, in a poor-quality friendly against The Netherlands.

Eriksson has also had to weather considerable speculation about his private life, most notably his alleged affairs with the television presenter Ulrika Jonsson, and FA secretary Faria Alam (in a scandal that led to the resignation of the FA's chief executive, Mark Palios). Despite this, Eriksson has maintained a relationship with long-term partner, Italian property lawyer Nancy Dell'Olio.

On 7 September 2005, Eriksson's England team lost a World Cup qualifying match against Northern Ireland 1-0, the first time that England had lost to that team since 1972. Although it was only Eriksson's first ever defeat in a World Cup or European Championship qualifying match, it brought his position under increased pressure and he was criticised, both by some fans and by BBC commentators, for failing to instill team spirit and tactics into his players. Criticism continued as England scraped a 1-0 victory over Austria in a game which saw David Beckham controversially sent off. Some of this criticism was answered, however, as England put in a much improved performance, despite the absence of David Beckham through suspension and Sol Campbell and Steven Gerrard through injury, in a 2-1 win against Poland.

In 2006, he was recorded saying he would be willing to leave England to manage Aston Villa if England won the World Cup, after being duped into believing that a wealthy Arab would buy the club and wanted him as manager. The wealthy "Arab" was in fact the "Fake Sheikh", an undercover News of the World reporter. Eriksson allegedly claimed that he could buy David Beckham and commented on the club careers of other senior England players such as Michael Owen.

On January 23, the Football Association announced that Eriksson would leave his job after the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and it was thought that the News of the World allegations played a part in this decision. This was later denied by both parties with Eriksson explaining that there was a prior arrangement to terminate his contract immediately after the World Cup. The FA later announced that Steve McClaren, Eriksson's assistant, would take over the reins after the World Cup. Eriksson's popularity has been on the wane for two years now, only winning this year's World Cup would see the English public hold him with higher esteem before he departs.

The week before Englands' first game in Germany, England beat Hungary 3-1 and Jamaica 6-0 at home.

England were unbeaten after the group stage of the tournament, with wins against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, followed by a draw against Sweden. The manner of these results were considered to be far from satisfactory. Eriksson attracted further negative media attention as a consequence.

A David Beckham trademark free kick was enough to see Eriksson's England past Ecuador in a lacklustre 1-0 encounter. However, Eriksson once again fell to nemesis Luiz Felipe Scolari's Portugal. They defeated England 3-1 on penalties with the score 0-0 after extra time, with Beckham lost to injury and Wayne Rooney sent off for 'stamping'. The result was Eriksson's third successive exit in a major tournament quarter-final.

Overall England Performance

P	W	D	L	F	A	Win%
67	40	17*	10	128	61	59.70

Win	59.70%
Draw	25.37%*
Loss	14.93%

*Draws include Euro 2004 Q/F v Portugal that ended 2-2 AET (Portugal won 6-5 on penalties)

Preceded by Peter Taylor(Caretaker)
Succeeded by Steve McClaren