The funeral of Sven-Göran Eriksson, the first foreign manager to coach the England national team, was held on Friday in the small Swedish town of Torsby, where he grew up before embarking on an illustrious career at the top of European football.
A soft-spoken but determined coach, Eriksson guided teams in Sweden, Portugal and Italy, winning major trophies in the 1980s and 1990s before taking the England job in 2001, managing stars such as David Beckham, who was among those attending the service.
Eriksson announced in January that he was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer and spent much of the following months reconnecting with many of the places and people central to his career before he died last month.
He fulfilled his dream of managing Liverpool after leading the club out in a charity legends match against Ajax at Anfield in March.
The funeral took place in Torsby, a rural town of fewer than 5,000 people near the Norwegian border, and was attended by several hundred people inside the church.
According to his agent, the 1898 neo-Gothic church had around 200 seats reserved for his family, friends and players from his football career. The remaining seats were open to the public, as per Eriksson's wishes.
Others followed the service on a giant screen set up outside and the funeral received full coverage by the Swedish media.
The wooden coffin was carried by pallbearers into the church on Friday morning. Next to the coffin was a photo of Eriksson on a small table. Among the wreaths were some sent by FIFA and Lazio, the Italian team Eriksson led to the Serie A title in 2000.
The Swedish coach's long-term partner, Nancy Dell'Olio, also attended the funeral.
Tributes poured in from prime ministers, clubs and former players following news of his death, while national teams including England and Sweden played in black armbands during the September international break.
Eriksson, known in Sweden simply as “Svennis”, led England to the quarter-finals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and Euro 2004, overseeing a golden generation of players that, in addition to Beckham, included stars such as Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard.
He began to build his international reputation when he guided Swedish club IFK Gothenburg to the UEFA Cup in 1982 and went on to win trophies as coach of Portugal's Benfica and Italian clubs Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio and Sampdoria.
Unable to end England's trophy drought, he stepped down as national team coach in 2006 and went on to manage Manchester City and Leicester City, as well as Mexico and the Ivory Coast and clubs in China and the Philippines.
Associated Press information contributed to this report.
