After an unassuming playing career as a right-back,
Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between
1977 and 2001, winning 18 trophies with a variety of league clubs in
Sweden, Portugal and Italy; he became the first manager to conquer league-and-cup doubles in three countries.[2] In European competition, he won both the UEFA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup (the last edition of the latter trophy before its abolition) and reached the final of the European Cup
He later managed the national teams of England, Mexico, Philippines and the Ivory Coast, as well as two clubs in England. Eriksson has worked in ten countries: Sweden, Portugal, Italy, England, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, China and the Philippines.
Eriksson was born in Sunne[1] and raised in Torsby, both in Värmland. His father, also named Sven, was a bus conductor, and his mother, Ulla, worked in a textile store.[3] He was nicknamed "Svennis" after his younger brother Lars-Erik's attempt to pronounce his name; Eriksson went on to become known, and is generally referred to in Sweden mononymously, by this nickname.
