Degerfors IF Having retired as a player, Eriksson received an offer to become Tord Grip's assistant at
Degerfors IF. A year later, Grip was appointed assistant manager of the
Sweden national team, and Eriksson became Degerfors' manager. His stint as manager lasted from 1 January 1977 to 31 December 1978. He led the team to the playoffs in 1977 and 1978, winning the latter and promotion to Swedish Football Division 2. The move was such a surprise that many of the players had never even heard of him. Although results had improved, the team's style did not make him popular. He put results ahead of flair, emphasised tactical awareness and work rate, and he reined in the team's old cavalier style. Eriksson's international breakthrough came during the spring of 1982, when he led IFK to the first ever
UEFA Cup for a Swedish club, defeating
Valencia in the quarter-finals and
Kaiserslautern in the semi-finals. In the
final they played
Hamburger SV over two legs.
Benfica Eriksson's European success led to him being recruited by Portuguese club
Benfica, which he joined in end of June. Eriksson's influence was immediate, winning the
Primeira Divisão, Eriksson then moved on to Italy, becoming manager of
Roma.
Roma Eriksson joined Roma on 1 July 1984. but nonetheless still won a
Coppa Italia with the club in 1986. Eriksson left the club on 6 May 1987. Eriksson's stint with the club was trophyless, and he moved back to Benfica for a second stint in 1989. Eriksson led the Portuguese side to the
final of the
1989–90 European Cup (losing to
Milan 1–0) in 1990, and another Primeira Divisão title in
1991.
Sampdoria In July 1992, Eriksson returned to Italy to lead
Sampdoria, where he managed to win another
Coppa Italia in 1994. In contrast to his predecessor,
Vujadin Boškov, he introduced a defensive system which was based on zonal marking rather than man-marking. He left in June 1997. In February 1997, however, he went back on his word, and opted to stay in Italy and become the new manager at
Lazio, beginning on 1 July 1997. Eriksson stated family reasons for wanting to stay in Italy, and Rovers would go on to appoint
Roy Hodgson. Eriksson employed fellow Swede
Tord Grip as his assistant. Eriksson won the
Coppa Italia and the
Supercoppa Italiana in both 1998 and 2000, the
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1999, its final edition), the
1999 UEFA Super Cup against recently
treble-winning Manchester United, and the
Serie A title (the
Scudetto) in
2000 – only the second time that the Roman club had won the
Italian championship in their history. Eriksson had signed in October 2000 to be the new manager of the
England national football team from June 2001, but was asked to resign by Lazio president
Sergio Cragnotti in January 2001, with the club eleven points behind their
capital city rivals Roma. His last game was an unexpected 2–1 home loss to
Napoli, and he was succeeded by
Dino Zoff.
England national football team Following the resignation of England manager
Kevin Keegan after a home loss to
Germany in October 2000,
The Football Association (FA) pursued Eriksson as his replacement. On 1 September 2001, Eriksson's team
won 5–1 away to Germany in Munich; Germany had only ever lost one home game in World Cup qualification before, and had led the game after six minutes. On 6 October, a late free-kick equaliser by
David Beckham ensured a 2–2 draw with
Greece at
Old Trafford, sending England directly to the
2002 FIFA World Cup.
2002 World Cup At the finals, England drew with
Sweden, defeated
Argentina 1–0, and drew with
Nigeria to qualify in second place from the four-team group. They went on to defeat
Denmark 3–0 in the Round of 16, before losing 2–1 to ten-man
Brazil, who went on to
win the tournament.
UEFA Euro 2004 After winning their first qualifying match in
Slovakia, England drew at home with
Macedonia and were then booed off by their fans after losing a
friendly to
Australia. England, however, won their next five qualifiers and, needing a point from the last game to qualify, drew 0–0 in
Turkey to top the group. In their first match in the
finals, England were winning 1–0 against
France after 90 minutes, but lost after
Zinedine Zidane scored twice in injury time. A 3–0 victory over
Switzerland and a 4–2 victory over
Croatia, however, meant England still qualified for a quarter-final against the hosts
Portugal. There,
Michael Owen gave England an early lead only for
Hélder Postiga to equalize. England then had a
Sol Campbell goal disallowed before ultimately losing on penalties.
2006 World Cup In March 2004, Eriksson's contract was extended by two years to cover
UEFA Euro 2008. On 7 September 2005, Eriksson's England team lost a World Cup qualifying match against
Northern Ireland 1–0. This was the first time that England had lost to these opponents since 1972, and the first time in
Belfast since 1927. Although it was England's first-ever defeat in a World Cup or European Championship qualifying match under Eriksson, it brought his position under pressure and he was criticised, both by some fans and by commentators from the
BBC, for his alleged lack of charisma and tactical awareness. In January 2006, Eriksson was recorded saying he would be willing to leave England to manage
Aston Villa if England won the World Cup, after being duped into believing that a wealthy Arab would buy the club, and wanted him as manager. The wealthy "Arab" was in fact the "Fake Sheikh"
Mazher Mahmood, an undercover
News of the World reporter. On 23 January, The FA announced that Eriksson would leave his job after the
2006 World Cup, and it was thought that the
News of the World allegations played a part in this decision. In March 2006,
The Guardian reported that
South Africa became the first potential employer publicly to register its interest in Eriksson. England finished top of Group B at the finals, beating
Paraguay and
Trinidad and Tobago, before a 2–2 draw with Sweden, although the English press considered their performances far from satisfactory. After defeating
Ecuador by a single Beckham free kick in the last 16, England were again eliminated on penalties by Portugal in the quarter-finals. BBC Sport pundit
Phil McNulty wrote a scathing review of Eriksson's period in charge, writing that he was unable to change games after England went behind, refused to drop Beckham and could not combine
Frank Lampard and
Steven Gerrard in midfield. McNulty added that Eriksson had chosen
Theo Walcott for the 2006 World Cup without watching him play, and never fielded the Arsenal player, who had been chosen ahead of
Jermain Defoe. Reflecting that Eriksson had taken over £20 million in salary, McNulty wrote "he will be remembered as a failure and a mighty pricey one at that". losing only three competitive games (excluding extra time), and achieved top qualifying place in all three international tournaments. In July 2006, after his final match with England,
ESPN reported that he had turned down the chance to manage
Jamaica, as well as an unknown participating club in the
UEFA Champions League. In October 2006, it was rumoured he was in talks to manage
Newcastle United, which his agent denied.
Manchester City On 6 July 2007, virtually a year to the day that he left the England job, Eriksson was confirmed as the new manager of
Manchester City after signing a three-year contract worth £2 million per year, plus bonuses. He was City's first manager from outside the United Kingdom and the first Swedish manager in the Premier League. Before the season started, he signed striker
Rolando Bianchi, along with midfielders
Gélson Fernandes,
Geovanni,
Martin Petrov and
Elano; and defenders
Vedran Ćorluka and
Javier Garrido. On 19 August, Manchester City beat
reigning Premier League champions
Manchester United to go top of the
2007–08 Premier League after three games without conceding a goal. Eriksson received the
Premier League's Manager of the Month award for August. In Spring 2008, owner
Thaksin Shinawatra said that he would replace Eriksson after only one full season due to an "avalanche of very poor results which is unacceptable at this level". In the last game of the season, Manchester City suffered an 8–1 loss to
Middlesbrough, the biggest defeat of Eriksson's career. Manchester City ended in ninth place in the league, one place away from the
UEFA Cup 2008–09 qualifying positions. Manchester City subsequently qualified through the extra place awarded to the Premier League for finishing as the highest placed team who had not already qualified for a European competition in the UEFA Fair Play League for 2007–08. Eriksson became the first Manchester City manager since
1969–70 to win both league derby games against Manchester United and also achieved the club's then joint highest Premier League point total, 55. On 2 June 2008, Manchester City confirmed by club statement that they had parted company with Eriksson by "mutual consent", with Eriksson still having two years left on his contract.
Mexico national team On 3 June 2008, Eriksson was officially signed to become manager of the
Mexico national team. He formally started the role after Mexico's World Cup qualifier against
Belize on 21 June. On 20 August 2008, he debuted as manager of Mexico in a
CONCACAF World Cup qualifier versus
Honduras. Mexico went on to win 2–1. During the next few matches, some results were poor, as Mexico drew with
Canada and lost to Jamaica and Honduras. On 11 February 2009, Eriksson was put under further pressure as his side lost 2–0 to the
United States. Calls for him to quit or be sacked were heard from the fans while English club
Portsmouth were rumoured to be interested in making him their new manager. This link was strengthened by reports of members from the Portsmouth board flying to
Mexico City to discuss contract offers with Eriksson and a possible compensation settlement with the
Mexican Football Federation. On 3 March 2009, Eriksson continued to deny that he would leave Mexico and return to manage
Portsmouth, insisting that he would remain and help Mexico qualify for the World Cup. After a 3–1 World Cup qualifying loss at Honduras, Eriksson was removed as national team coach. Eriksson had only won one of his last seven non-friendly games as manager.
Notts County On 22 July 2009, Eriksson was appointed as
director of football at
English League Two team
Notts County following that club's takeover by Middle East consortium
Munto Finance with Eriksson getting a reported, but unconfirmed, £2 million per year deal. Eriksson later said that he was attracted by the consortium's plans to take the world's oldest league club to the top of the Premier League, and believed that they had the finance and commitment to do that. County's large debts, including an unpaid tax bill, emerged in November 2009. On 11 February 2010, Eriksson resigned as director of football following the club's takeover by former
Lincoln City chairman
Ray Trew. Eriksson waived a multi-million payoff in order to assist the takeover, which chairman Trew described as the act of an "absolute gentleman". Notts County were promoted as League Two champions at the end of
the season. Disclosure of the amount of money Eriksson's contract was worth has never been confirmed, but it has been reported that he received £270,000 for accepting the job. On 15 June, Ivory Coast played an ill-tempered 0–0 draw against Portugal in their opening game in
Group G of the
2010 World Cup finals, followed by a 3–1 loss against Brazil on 20 June. Despite defeating the already-eliminated
North Korea in the final group game 3–0, Ivory Coast failed to qualify for the knockout stage. Prior to the match against Brazil, Brazilian coach
Dunga commented, "With Eriksson, Ivory Coast has great balance. We used to see them play and they didn't have this type of organisation that they have now." As there were no reported negotiations of an extension to Eriksson's contract between his agent and the
Ivorian Football Federation, his contract ended on 25 June.
Leicester City Eriksson was appointed manager of
Leicester City on 3 October 2010, as the Foxes sat in the relegation zone of the
Championship. His first league game in charge resulted in a 1–1 draw against
Hull City, managed by
Nigel Pearson who had managed Leicester for the previous two seasons. This was quickly followed by Leicester's first victory under Eriksson, beating
Leeds United 2–1 at
Elland Road. In December 2010, Eriksson denied that he had been in talks for becoming the new manager for
Blackburn Rovers, following the exit of
Sam Allardyce, stating he was happy managing Leicester. Boosted by the loan signings of players such as
Kyle Naughton and later
Yakubu, results steadily improved under Eriksson as Leicester gradually began to climb the table, until a good run of form in the new year saw Leicester win seven of their first eight league games of 2011, and also take
Premier League title challengers and eventual cup winners Manchester City to a replay in the
FA Cup. On 18 February 2011, after an injury time winner from
Martyn Waghorn at home to
Bristol City, Leicester had climbed to seventh in the table, and just one point off a play-off place. Leicester's form, however, began to stutter as they won just two out of their following eleven games. The Foxes ended up finishing the season in 10th position. Eriksson spent big in a bid for promotion in the summer of 2011, including multimillion-pound transfer fees on
Matt Mills and
Jermaine Beckford. making them pre-season promotion favourites. After thirteen league matches, however, Eriksson left the club by mutual consent on 25 October 2011, with the Foxes 13th in the league, two points from a play-off position. Three players who were signed by Eriksson – Kasper Schmeichel,
David Nugent and
Paul Konchesky – were part of the Leicester team that won the
2013–14 Championship and survived relegation from the
2014–15 Premier League under Nigel Pearson. Nugent credited Eriksson for his improved form at the club. Of the three, Schmeichel was a key member of the first team that won the
2015–16 Premier League.
2012–2013 In an interview with
Yorkshire Radio on 8 February 2012, the chairman of Football League Championship club Leeds United,
Ken Bates, revealed that Eriksson had applied for the vacant managerial position at the club after the dismissal of
Simon Grayson. Bates went on to state that his application was unsuccessful. On 3 September 2012, Eriksson was unveiled as the technical director of
BEC Tero Sasana, a team in the
Thai League 1. On 17 November 2012, Norwegian media reported that Eriksson was in talks with
Vålerenga, about the possibility of taking over the soon to be available manager job for the
Oslo-based club. A meeting between the two parties was held on 21 November in Oslo, but no deal was made. In December, negotiations between Eriksson and the
Football Federation of Ukraine, who had offered him the position of head coach of the
Ukraine national team, did not bear fruit. On 15 January 2013, it was announced that Eriksson would be joining German
2. Bundesliga side
1860 Munich as assistant to
Alexander Schmidt. On 18 January 2013, the club however reported, that Eriksson declined the offer to join 1860. On 21 January 2013, Eriksson became technical director of
Dubai-based club
Al Nasr in the
UAE Pro League.
China On 4 June 2013,
Guangzhou R&F of the
Chinese Super League announced Eriksson as their new head coach, on a nineteen-month contract lasting until December 2014. He was believed to be paid around £2 million a year for the job. He came up against former
Italy manager
Marcello Lippi in the
city's derby matches, as the
World Cup winner was manager of local rival
Guangzhou Evergrande. Under Eriksson, Guangzhou R&F finished third in the league in 2014, and therefore qualified for the
AFC Champions League for the first time. He left Guangzhou R&F on 10 November 2014, after a disagreement in negotiations for extending his contract. Eriksson signed a two-year contract with fellow Chinese Super League side
Shanghai SIPG on 18 November 2014. He led Shanghai SIPG to finish runners up in the season of 2015, and qualified for the AFC Champions League for the first time. Under Eriksson, Shanghai SIPG advanced to the quarter-finals in their debut in the AFC Champions League, and secured a seat in the
2017 AFC Champions League by finishing third in the 2016 season. However, Eriksson was criticized for his tactical play and failure to give chances to young talents throughout his term at SIPG. He was replaced by
André Villas-Boas on 4 November 2016. On 5 December 2016, Eriksson became the manager of
China League One side
Shenzhen FC, replacing
Clarence Seedorf. He won his first six matches of the season of 2017, including five league matches and a FA Cup match. However, Eriksson was sacked on 14 June 2017, following a nine-game run without a win.
Philippines national team On 27 October 2018, Eriksson returned to international football after he was appointed head coach of the
Philippines national team on a six-month contract. He was recommended to the position by interim coach
Scott Cooper, who took over after
Terry Butcher's resignation in August; Eriksson and Cooper previously worked together for English club Leicester City. In October 2018, Eriksson met with the Filipino players during their training camp in
Qatar. The
2018 AFF Championship was his first tournament leading the Philippines. With wins over
Singapore and
Timor-Leste, and draws with
Thailand and
Indonesia, the Philippines ended second place in
Group B. However, the Philippines were defeated by eventual champions
Vietnam on 4–2 aggregate in the two-legged semi-finals. Eriksson was then tasked to lead the Philippines in the
2019 AFC Asian Cup—the team's first appearance in the tournament. They lost their first group match 1–0 to
South Korea. This was followed by a 3–0 loss to
China, which was coached by Eriksson's friend
Marcello Lippi. Philippines ended their Asian Cup campaign in a 3–1 loss to
Kyrgyzstan, where
Stephan Schröck's consolation goal was the Philippines' only goal in the tournament. After the Philippines' winless Asian Cup debut, Eriksson ended his tenure as head coach of the national team. However, he continued to serve as a consultant for quite some time. ==Style of management==