Swedish football manager and former player Sven-Göran Eriksson, 75, who managed England’s 'golden generation' at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, has told Swedish Radio P1 that he has pancreatic cancer that it is inoperable and has "best case a year" to live after being diagnosed.

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"Everyone understands that I have a disease that is not good, and everyone guesses that it is cancer and it is," Eriksson said in an interview published Thursday.

"At best I have maybe a year, at worst maybe a little less," he said, noting that he is trying to think positively.

"I don’t think the doctors 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 wallow in adversity, because this is, of course, the biggest setback of them all of course.”

In early 2023, Eriksson, who had a 42-year career in management – coaching in 10 countries: Sweden, Portugal, Italy, England, Mexico, Ivory Coast, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, China, and the Philippines – stood down from his role as sporting director at Swedish third division club Karlstad because of health issues.

After 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 won both the UEFA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup and reached the final of the European Cup.

Eriksson later managed the national teams of England, Mexico, Philippines, and Ivory Coast, as well as two clubs in England.