SVEN'S AFFAIRS Sex is one of the good things in life… I was stupid but did nothing criminal, says Sven Goran Eriksson on his affairs

Last year Amazon Prime cameras had access to Sven and his family as he battled pancreatic cancer at his home in Sweden

Posted Thursday, August 15, 2024 by Thesun.co.uk

TERMINALLY ill former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed all about his astonishing sex life in a documentary.

The 76-year-old Swede tells Amazon Prime show Sven how he cheated on his long-time partner Nancy Dell’Ollio with Ulrika Jonsson and FA secretary Faria Alam.

SVEN'S AFFAIRS Sex is one of the good things in life… I was stupid but did nothing criminal, says Sven Goran Eriksson on his affairs
Ex-England football boss Sven-Goran Eriksson with his ex-lover Italian lawyer Nancy Dell'Ollio Credit: Rex Features

Sven also cheated on long-time partner Nancy with FA secretary Faria Alam, above Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd

But he tells the programme that he did not commit any crimes and that “sex is one of the good things in life for all of us”.

In the 107-minute documentary, Faria, now 58, reveals how the then-England manager told her to cash in on their 2004 affair.

She says: “The Noughties were just that, they were naughty.

“You could do so many things. I’ll be honest, I was a beautiful girl and I attracted a lot of attention.

“He said, ‘Tell your story, go and tell them everything. Make some money, why not?’.”

Last year Amazon Prime cameras had access to Sven and his family as he battled pancreatic cancer at his home in Sweden.

But at the start of this year Sven revealed that he had “probably less than a year to live”.

As well as discussing how he feels facing death, England’s first foreign manager also talks candidly about the women in his life.

Italian lawyer Nancy, 62, who spent nine years with Sven, admits that she nearly left him after his fling with fellow Swede Ulrika.

But her lawyer advised her to give him another chance.

In the documentary, Sven also admits that life could be interesting with fiery Nancy.

He said: “She loved it. The tension. She was a lady from the upper classes in Rome. She liked to go out with important people.

“In the beginning I didn’t react very much. But you don’t change people at a certain age. It was not peace in my house always.”

'First lady of English football'

Nancy adds: “The first impression that I had about Sven, people in power always have extra, extra sex appeal. I felt in love.

“It wasn’t something that I was looking for. I was married and I left my husband to start my journey with Sven.

“We were Sven and Nancy since the first date.

“I was the first lady of English football and there was never going to be another one after me.”

But when news broke in April 2002 of Sven’s affair with Ulrika, Nancy was humiliated.

Sven, who was England manager from 2001 to 2006, tells how he received a phone call from football agent Athole Still advising him not to let Nancy read the newspapers.

He recalls telling Still: “It’s too late, there are 100 photographers outside already.”

Sven adds: “Sex is one of the good things in life for all of us. She was not married. I was not married.

“Probably I was stupid but I think I didn’t do anything criminal. I didn’t really disturb anyone.”

But he admits being fearful that Nancy would leave him.

He says: “I could see in front of me, if I break up, it would be ‘pouf’. I was a little bit afraid but anyhow it became what it became.”

Nancy confesses: “The stupidity of Sven. After Sven’s first scandal, I wanted to leave him.

“I couldn’t want to admit to myself that there was a possibility that I made a mistake. That I left everything for him. My lawyers said give him another chance but think what you can get from this.”

Sven also reveals that after he was appointed England coach he took tea at No 10 with Tony Blair who said: “Shall we take a bet? Who keeps the job longest, you or me? We have two impossible jobs.”

'Don’t be sorry. Smile'

Sven quit after the 2006 World Cup Blair resigned as PM in 2007.

In the documentary, which streams next week, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney also pay tribute to their former boss. Becks says: “I loved him from day one. He made me captain. The confidence he had in me was so important.

“The way he protected the players, the way he treated the players, it was a breath of fresh air.”

Today Sven lives with his partner Yaniseth Alcides, a former dancer, he met while coaching in Mexico.

She tells the documentary: “I try to be calm for him because he is making a great effort. This year we turned 15 together. And I have hope that we will be together for many more years. I will not lose that hope.”

They live in Sven’s rambling house overlooking Fryken lake near Sunne, in Värmland, where the bus driver’s son grew up and where he began his football career for local club Torsby.

Sven says: “It’s a beautiful place. It makes me calm, below the mountain where my father grew up.

"The ashes could be thrown into the water here.”

Sven’s cancer was spotted after he collapsed at his home and, despite treatment it is terminal. He says: “Whoever it was said ‘life is too short’ is right.

“I had a good life, maybe too good. You have to pay for it. I think we all are scared of the day when it’s finished, when you die.

“You have to learn to accept it for what it is.

“Hopefully, at the end people will say, ‘Yeah, he was a good man’. But everyone will not say that. I hope you will remember me as a positive guy and trying to do everything he could do. Don’t be sorry. Smile.”