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Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Swedish football coach who served for five years as England’s first foreign manager, died at home on Monday surrounded by his family. He was 76.

Eriksson made his name winning trophies at club level in Italy, Portugal and Sweden. He died eight months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given a year to live.

In his native Sweden, Eriksson was known as “Svennis”. After a modest nine-year playing career, he retired at 27 and began a nomadic coaching career that peaked when he was hired by England in 2001.

Eriksson led the so-called “golden generation” of players including David Beckham, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney to the World Cups in 2002 and 2006, leading the team to the quarter-finals at both tournaments before being eliminated by Brazil and Portugal respectively.

In Eriksson’s only other major tournament, the 2004 European Championship, England were also knocked out at the quarter-final stage, again by Portugal and on penalties, as at the 2006 World Cup.

Eriksson’s tenure in one of the most high-profile jobs in world football was almost as memorable for what happened off the pitch. He had two affairs – one with Swedish TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson and the other with Football Association secretary Faria Alam – which were widely covered by the English tabloid press.

“My personal life in England was not very personal,” — Ericsson said in 2018.