Funeral for Ex-England Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson Held in Sweden 

Funeral of Sven-Goran Eriksson - Torsby, Sweden - September 13, 2024 A photograph of Sven-Goran Eriksson on display at Fryksande church. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT News Agency via Reuters)
Funeral of Sven-Goran Eriksson - Torsby, Sweden - September 13, 2024 A photograph of Sven-Goran Eriksson on display at Fryksande church. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT News Agency via Reuters)
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Funeral for Ex-England Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson Held in Sweden 

Funeral of Sven-Goran Eriksson - Torsby, Sweden - September 13, 2024 A photograph of Sven-Goran Eriksson on display at Fryksande church. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT News Agency via Reuters)
Funeral of Sven-Goran Eriksson - Torsby, Sweden - September 13, 2024 A photograph of Sven-Goran Eriksson on display at Fryksande church. (Jonas Ekstromer/TT News Agency via Reuters)

The funeral of Sven-Goran Eriksson, the first foreigner to manage England's national soccer team, was held on Friday in the small Swedish town where he grew up before embarking on a career that would span many decades, countries and trophies.

A soft-spoken but determined coach, Eriksson guided teams in Sweden, Portugal and Italy to major trophies in the 1980s and 1990s before taking on the England job in 2001, managing stars such as David Beckham, with whom he formed a close bond.

Eriksson announced in January that he was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer and spent much of the ensuing months reconnecting with many of the places and people central to his career before he died last month.

The funeral took place in Torsby, a rural town of less than 5,000 people near the border with Norway, and was attended by several hundred people inside the church, including Beckham.

Others followed the service on a big screen set up outside and the funeral was given blanket coverage by Swedish media.

Tributes flowed in from prime ministers, clubs and former players on news of his death while national teams including England and Sweden played with black arm bands during the recent international break.

Eriksson, known in Sweden simply as "Svennis", led England to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup quarter-finals, and to the 2004 European Championship, managing a golden generation of players that besides Beckham included stars such as Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard.

He began building his international reputation when he guided Swedish club IFK Gothenburg to the UEFA Cup title in 1982 and went on to win silverware as coach of Portugal's Benfica and Italian clubs AS Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio and Sampdoria.

Unable to end England's trophy drought, he left the helm of the national side in 2006, going on to coach Manchester City and Leicester City as well as Mexico and Ivory Coast and clubs in China and the Philippines.



Brazil Signs Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti 1 Year Ahead of 2026 World Cup

Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)
Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)
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Brazil Signs Real Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti 1 Year Ahead of 2026 World Cup

Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)
Real Madrid's Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti lifts the trophy to celebrate the victory at the end of the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid, at Wembley stadium, in London, on June 1, 2024. (AFP)

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will leave the Spanish club and take over as coach of Brazil’s national team, the Brazilian soccer federation said Monday.

The 65-year-old Ancelotti, who will be Brazil's first full-time foreign coach in a century, is still under contract with Madrid. The last round of the Spanish league will be on May 25 and the CBF said in a statement that he will officially take over Brazil the following day.

“Bringing Carlo Ancelotti to coach Brazil is more than a strategic movement. It is a statement to the world that we are determined to recover the top of the podium,” CBF President Ednaldo Rodrigues said in a statement. “He is the greatest coach in history and, now, he will be with the greatest national team on the planet. Together, we will write new glorious chapters of Brazilian soccer.”

Rodrigues said Ancelotti will take charge of Brazil’s next two fixtures in South American World Cup qualifying, with his debut at Ecuador on June 5th and five days later in front of home fans against Paraguay in Sao Paulo.

Ancelotti's contract with Madrid ends next year but is expected to be terminated early.

He will replace Dorival Júnior, who held the job for 14 months and was fired in March after a 4-1 defeat at Argentina. Brazil lags in 4th position in World Cup qualifying after 14 matches and has its 33-year-old star Neymar still in difficulties to return to top form after an ACL injury in 2023. The top six teams will secure direct spots in next year’s tournament.

Ancelotti leaves Madrid after a frustrating season in which the team did not defend its European title and saw rival Barcelona win the Copa del Rey and get close to securing the league title after a 4-3 victory over Madrid on Sunday.

The Italian coach and Real Madrid are yet to comment on CBF's announcement.

BRAZIL'S WAIT

Ancelotti's signing ends a turbulent time on Brazil’s bench since Tite left after the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals elimination against Croatia. Under-20 coach Ramon Menezes and Fluminense coach Fernando Diniz took charge for several matches as Rodriguez sought Ancelotti to become coach.

Menezes and Diniz both fared poorly, and Ancelotti extended his deal with Madrid during that span. Dorival Júnior was then chosen in 2024 to take the team to the World Cup, but he was also fired after the same lack of success and unimpressive performances.

Al-Hilal coach Jorge Jesus, a 70-year-old Portuguese who won several titles with Brazil’s Flamengo in 2019, was the favorite to take the Brazil job until Madrid was knocked out of the Champions League by Arsenal earlier in April.

Brazil will be Ancelotti’s first international experience as full-time coach. He was an assistant to Arrigo Sacchi in the 1994 World Cup as Italy lost to Brazil in the final on penalties.

That ended a 24-year World Cup title drought for Brazil, the same time frame it will face next year in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Ancelotti, who won Serie A titles as a player with Roma and AC Milan plus two European titles with the latter as a creative midfielder, started his full-time coaching career in 1995 at Italy's Reggiana.

He's also coached Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Napoli and Everton, winning titles in Italy, England, Spain, France and Germany.

He twice won the Champions League with Milan 2003 and 2007, and added three more titles with Real Madrid in 2014, 2022 and last year.

Ancelotti will be only the second foreign coach to take Brazil into an international tournament.

The first was Uruguayan Ramón Platero, who coached Brazil in the 1925 South American championship, the predecessor of the current Copa America. He was on the job for 19 days and four matches of a round-robin competition with Paraguay and Argentina, with two wins, one loss and one draw in the final with Argentina, who lifted the title.

Portuguese coach Jorge Gomes de Lima, known as Joreca, shared Brazil’s coach position with local Flavio Costa in two friendly victories over Uruguay in 1944.

And in 1965 Argentine coach Filpo Nuñez coached Brazil for one day. Nuñez was Palmeiras’ coach, and Brazil’s soccer body chose the Sao Paulo-based club to play with national team shirts in a friendly against Uruguay in the opening of the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte. The hosts won 3-0.

MADRID'S FUTURE

The announcement of Ancelotti’s departure came a day after Madrid lost its fourth straight match to Barcelona this season, falling seven points behind the Catalan rival with three rounds remaining.

Former player Xabi Alonso is widely expected to take over the club’s helm after he confirmed his departure from Bayer Leverkusen.

Alonso led Leverkusen to an unprecedented German league and cup double last year in his first full season after taking over the team when it was in the Bundesliga’s relegation zone the season before. He starred as a player as Madrid won a Spanish league title in 2012 and the 2014 Champions League before leaving for three Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich.

Madrid still has to play in the upcoming Club World Cup beginning next month.