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ZURICH — Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen resumes his rivalry with Briton Josh Kerr at Thursday's Diamond League meeting in Zurich, and the race promises to be a humdinger.

Rarely has an event been as keenly contested in recent seasons as the men's 1500m, Ingebrigtsen and Kerr accompanied in Switzerland by the American pair of Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse.

Going into the Paris Olympics, the narrative had all been about Ingebrigtsen avenging his world championships loss to Kerr.

Even World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, himself a two-time Olympic 1500m champion and whose career involved an intense rivalry with Steve Ovett, dubbed the tug-of-war between the two tremendous for the sport.

"It has an added piquancy because this is probably not a friendship made in heaven," Coe said.

Kerr and Ingebrigtsen have traded barbs since the Scot swept past the Norwegian to snatch world gold in Budapest last year.

Ingebrigtsen has said that Kerr "is known as the Brit who never competes". Kerr for his part has said he thinks that Ingebrigtsen has some "major weakness" and flaws in the "manners realm".

Either way, both were upstaged at the Paris Games as the unheralded Hocker surged home for gold ahead of Kerr, Nuguse taking bronze ahead of Ingebrigtsen.

'Anything can happen' 

All four are present in Zurich in what will be one of the most hotly-anticipated post-Olympics showdowns.

"What makes it exciting is that we come out of our lanes and anything can happen," said Kerr.

"For the crowd, there's a lot of variables that can come into play with our distance. It's slightly longer than the 800m, a little more tactical, but also kind of pretty fast and pretty hard.

"It's the perfect distance to watch!"

Despite being twice pushed into world silver, Ingebrigtsen has long been the marked man when it comes to the 1500m.

"That's the position that everybody wants to be in," he argued.

"At the same time it's a unique position to be in where we can be quite a lot of runners all fighting for the same thing... have some good fights. That's what everybody wants to see."

Hocker added that it was "fascinating to see in the 1500m, no matter what race it is but even at the global stage, that everyone has a different strength and a different way that they want to set themselves up best".

"It's interesting to see everyone come together and collide, and everyone just tries to win."

Ingebrigtsen, who beat Hocker in the Lausanne Diamond League, then went on to smash the 3,000m world record in Silesia.

But he picked up a virus after that, something he admitted did not make for great preparation for an all-out battle with three of his closest rivals.

"Everyone told me I shouldn't be here," the Norwegian said. "I'll do as good as I can and do a good race.

"I'm here and I'm going to spend the next hours wisely and hopefully I'll be as good as I can tomorrow."

With Kerr and Ingebrigtsen barely able to look at each other during the pre-meet press conference, the Briton risked the wrath of the Norwegian when asked what the latter's strengths were.

"His dress sense," the Scot glibly deadpanned to a silent room.

Ingebrigtsen at least responded with a more humble answer, saying that Kerr gave "100 per cent when it matters".

"Josh has been doing that since at least the Tokyo Olympics. So being able to make your best race when it really matters."

MONACO — A new era in European club football began on Thursday when the draw took place in Monaco for an expanded UEFA Champions League featuring a radically changed format.

European football's governing body is selling what it describes as "a thrilling new future" for the game on the continent with more teams playing more matches, and more prize money on offer.

UEFA needs to generate hype around the new format, because there is a risk — in the beginning at least — that fans will find it confusing compared to the old model.

For the last 21 years, the Champions League had consisted of a group stage in which 32 clubs were split into eight groups of four, each playing six games. The top two in each group qualified for the knockout phase.

The new version will feature 36 clubs with everyone playing eight matches, but all teams pooled together into one giant league rather than in groups.

Clubs will still be split into four seeded pots of nine teams, with every participant given two opponents from each pot.

The top eight in the final ranking go through to the last 16, while the next 16 sides advance to an intermediate play-off round and the remainder go out.

The new format was introduced against the backdrop of the threat by Europe's biggest clubs to break away and form their own Super League.

But UEFA are also hoping the format can be a solution to the problem of competitive imbalance in the sport which was making the group stage more predictable.

"The new format will introduce a better competitive balance between all the teams, with the possibility for each team to play opponents of a similar competitive level throughout the league phase," UEFA say.

Financial rewards 

What the changes will certainly not address are concerns about too much football being played and damaging the quality as a result.

The increasing demands on players, and the lack of rest as a result, were cited as reasons why many matches at Euro 2024 proved disappointing.

The new Champions League, in a season which is also set to finish with the first expanded version of FIFA's Club World Cup, will feature a total of 144 games in the group stage, up from 96 before.

The financial rewards are greater, however, with UEFA's total prize pot for the Champions League rising by about 25 percent to almost 2.5 billion euros ($2.79 billion).

The winners of the competition can pocket over 86 million euros just in prize money, not including bonuses of 700,000 euros for every point gained in the league phase or income from television.

Real Madrid were the winners last season, raising the trophy for the sixth time in the last 11 years.

The addition of Kylian Mbappe to their squad means they will hope to go all the way again, and emerge victorious in the final in Munich on May 31, next year.

Newcomers 

This season's Champions League will include newcomers such as Girona from Spain, while Bologna of Italy take part in Europe's elite club competition for the first time in 60 years.

Brest of France had never qualified for any European competition before, but now take part after finishing third in Ligue 1 last season — taking advantage of the extra place handed to France as the fifth-ranked league in Europe.

As for the other additional places, one goes to a national champion who will emerge from the qualifying rounds, while Italy and Germany get an extra team each because of the performances of their clubs in Europe last season.

UEFA said the draw itself will be a "hybrid" affair, between the manual drawing of balls and the use of software, having calculated that doing it all by hand would take more than three hours.

The Europa League and Conference League, the draws for which will both take place on Friday, will also now feature 36 teams, although there will be only six matches for clubs in the league phase of the latter competition.

NEW YORK — Coco Gauff joined Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz on the US Open scrap-heap on Sunday as the defending champion crashed out to Emma Navarro in a blizzard of mistakes.

Third-ranked Gauff slumped to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 fourth round defeat on the back of 19 double faults and 60 unforced errors.

The 20-year-old's exit means Serena Williams remains the last woman to successfully defend the US Open title back in 2014.

"I lost in the first round the last two years and now to be making the quarter-finals is pretty insane," said fellow American Navarro, who will face Spain's Paula Badosa for a place in the semifinals.

"This is the city I was born in and it feels so special to be playing here. Coco is an amazing player. I have a ton of respect for her and I know she's going to come back here and win this thing again."

Gauff's loss was another body blow to the season's final Grand Slam.

Djokovic, the defending men's champion, was knocked out in the third round to suffer his earliest exit in 18 years.

Fellow crowd-pleaser Alcaraz, the 2022 winner in New York and reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion, was stunned in the second round.

'Gave it my all' 

"I gave it my all," said Gauff. "Obviously there were things execution-wise, where I was like, I wish I could serve better. I think if I did that, it would have been a different story."

Navarro had defeated Gauff at Wimbledon in July and was dominant again on Sunday from the outset.

The 23-year-old broke for 4-2 in the first set and sealed the opener in the ninth game where one rally stretched to 27 shots.

Gauff recovered from a break down in the second set to level the tie, but it was a brief respite as she served up three more double faults in the third game of the decider to slip a crucial break down again.

New York-born Badosa reached her first US Open quarter-final with a 6-1, 6-2 win over China's Wang Yafan.

Despite the one-sided scoreline, the first two games took 17 minutes. Badosa saved all eight break points she faced.

"It was so humid I thought I was going to die," said the 26-year-old.

Alexander Zverev, who blew a two-set lead to lose the 2020 final to Dominic Thiem, made his fourth quarter-final by beating Brandon Nakashima of the United States, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

Fourth-ranked Zverev served 14 aces and clubbed 51 winners past the 50th-ranked Nakashima.

Up next is a last-eight clash with US 12th seed Taylor Fritz, who came back from two sets down to triumph in the pair's dramatic fourth round clash at Wimbledon in July.

"That was an amazing match. I expect a tough battle -- it always is when I face Taylor," said Zverev.

Fritz knocked out 2022 runner-up and eighth-ranked Casper Ruud 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 on the back of 24 aces to reach his third Grand Slam quarter-final of the year.

'Stay patient' 

Alexei Popyrin, the 28th-ranked Australian who shocked 24-time major winner Djokovic, has yet to make a Slam quarter-final.

In the night session, he was battling flamboyant Frances Tiafoe, the 20th-ranked shot-maker who made the semi-finals in 2022 and last-eight 12 months ago.

With Djokovic and Alcaraz eliminated, home fans are dreaming of a first American men's Grand Slam champion since Andy Roddick captured the US Open in 2003.

Waiting in the quarter-finals will be Grigor Dimitrov, the ninth-seeded Bulgarian who put out Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 1-6, 3-6, 6-3.

Dimitrov last made the quarter-finals in 2019 when he defeated Roger Federer in five sets in what proved to be the Swiss legend's final appearance in New York.

"I was playing fairly good today in the first two sets," said 33-year-old Dimitrov, the oldest player left in the men's draw.

"But for some reason, my body got tired a little bit and he wasn't going to give up the match. I had to stay patient."

Women's second seed and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, runner-up to Gauff last year, eased into a fourth successive quarter-final by seeing off Belgium's Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-4, unleashing 41 winners.

Sabalenka will next face either Zheng Qinwen or Donna Vekic who were facing off in a repeat of the Olympic Games final won by the Chinese star.

NEW YORK — Novak Djokovic’s latest bid for a record 25th Grand Slam title crashed to a halt on Friday as 28th-ranked Alexei Popyrin knocked the defending champion out of the US Open third round.

One day after third seed Carlos Alcaraz slumped to a shock defeat against 74th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp, 25-year-old Popyrin robbed the tournament of another superstar with a 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory.

Popyrin handed Djokovic his earliest US Open exit in 18 years and his earliest Grand Slam exit since he fell in the second round of the Australian Open in 2017 — which was also the last year the Serbian great failed to claim a single Grand Slam title.

Although he won the Olympic gold he had long coveted at the Paris Games, an uneven season that included knee surgery saw Djokovic come up empty in the majors.

He had beaten Popyrin in three prior encounters, including at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, but 14 double faults — and 49 unforced errors total — were too much for Djokovic to overcome.

“It was just an awful match for me,” Djokovic said, adding that he would now try to “recalibrate and look forward.”

Popyrin, coming off the biggest title of his career at the Montreal Masters, seized the first two sets with a fearless display on serve and from the baseline.

Djokovic gave himself some breathing room with an early break in the third. Popyrin clawed back the break only for Djokovic to break him twice more, the Serbian taking full advantage of Popyrin’s mounting errors.

But the Aussie responded in a tense fourth set, saving break points in the second game before seizing a break for a 3-2 lead.

He stayed patient as Djokovic saved three break points and when the Serbian double faulted to gift him another Popyrin capitalised with a blistering forehand winner and let out a massive roar.

After saving a pair of break points in the next game, the Aussie broke again for a 5-2 lead.

Djokovic, not about to go quietly, won two straight games to cut the gap but Popyrin claimed the match with a love game as Djokovic fired one more forehand long.

“We had some battles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon,” Popyrin said. “This match was a little different. I was able to take my chances when I had them.

“To be in the fourth round of a Grand Slam by beating the greatest of all time is unbelievable,” Popyrin said.

He will next face Frances Tiafoe, who beat fellow American Ben Shelton 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 6-3 in a pulsating afternoon contest on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Tiafoe avenged a quarter-final loss to Shelton in New York last year, withstanding 23 aces with a brilliant return display that saw him muster 21 break points and convert five.

That included one break in each of the last two sets.

When Tiafoe closed it out after an intense four hours and three minutes, he spread his arms to the roaring crowd before meeting his good friend Shelton for a lengthy hug at the net.

World number six Andrey Rublev of Russia beat Czech Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to line up a meeting with Grigor Dimitrov, a 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 winner over Tallon Griekspoor.

Eighth-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud rallied from two sets down to beat 19-year-old Shang Juncheng of China 6-7 (1/7), 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-1 to book a meeting with American Taylor Fritz, a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 winner over Argentina’s Francisco Comesana.

Defending women’s champion Coco Gauff survived late-match drama in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Elina Svitolina.

Gauff’s third-set surge had carried her to triple match point at 5-2, but she delivered a pair of double faults and Svitolina saved another with a blazing backhand on the way to a break.

But Gauff broke Svitolina at love in the next game to lock up the win.

Gauff next faces fellow American Emma Navarro, who upset her in the fourth round at Wimbledon. Navarro beat Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Second-seeded Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka closed out the night session, taking on Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.

Seventh-seeded Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen of China, who rallied from a set down in each of her first two matches, dispatched Germany’s Jule Niemeier 6-2, 6-1.

Zheng next faces Croatian Donna Vekic in a rematch of the Paris Olympics gold medal match.

Spain’s Paula Badosa saved a match point en route to a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10/8) victory over Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who had toppled Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova in the second round.

AMMAN — Jordan joined nations from around the world as the Paralympic Games started in Paris on Wednesday with over 4000 athletes, competing in 22 sports.

In its 10th time at the Games, Jordan has 8 athletes: The seven powerlifters are headed by record four-time medalist Jamil Shibli, three-time medalist Omar Qaradhi, Rio silver medalist Tharwat Hajjaj, Beijing bronze medalist Mu'tazJuneidi, Abdul Karim Khattab, Asma Issa, Mohammad Shneiti in addition to Tokyo gold medalist Ahmad Hindi in athletics (shot put).

Table tennis, which secured Jordan’s first ever gold, and has always been a leading sport for the disabled is missing this time.

Since 1984, Jordan has won a total of 19 medals at the Paralympics (five gold, seven silver and sevenbronze). The total count includes a  silver and two bronze won at the Stoke Mandeville Games, which preceded the Paralympic Games.

The Tokyo Paralympics was the most successful for Jordan with a historic four gold medals in powerlifting and athletics and a bronze in table tennis. The four gold medals were the first after 20 years since the late Maha Barghouti's first gold (wheelchair table tennis) at the 2000 Sydney Games. 

Athletes with disabilities have usually made up for the failure to achieve better results on the Olympic scene, where even qualifying to the world’s premier sports gathering has been a daunting task, and since first participating in 1980, the Kingdom earned its first Olympic medal in 2016 and so far has four in total (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)

A look back at past Paralympic participations demonstrates how sports for the disabled has gained recognition for Jordan through impressive performances on the international scene. Jordan's medals tally started in 1984, when the late Aida Shishani won bronze in athletics, 100 and 200mand the Barghouti silver in shot put. At the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics,  Imad Gharbawi won a silver medal in the discus followed by Barghouti’s gold in Sydney 2000. Two medals were added in Athens 2004 when Jamil Shibli won silver in the shot put while the women’s table tennis team (Khitam Abu Awad and Fatima Azzam) won bronze. 

In 2008, Jordan won two silvers and two bronze. Omar Qaradhi took silver in power lifting; Shibli added a second silver with a new Paralympic world record in the shot put, Mu’taz Juneidi won a bronze in power-lifting and the women's wheelchair table tennis team won bronze when  Fatima Azzam and Khitam Abu Awad repeated their bronze medal win in Athens 2004.

The 2012 Paralympics was the most disappointing participation after the impressive women in table tennis failed to advance past the round of 16 while power lifters were embroiled in controversy amid sexual assault complaints and were returned home before later facing legal proceedings in the UK.

In Rio 2016, Jordan won three medals in power lifting -two silvers by Tharwat Hajjaj (86 kg) and Omar Qaradhi (49 kg), while 2004 and 2008 silver medalist Jamil Shibli won bronze (+107 kg). 

In Tokyo 2020, Ahmad Hindi set a new world record and won a gold in athletics (shot put); three golds were secured in  power lifting by Omar Qaradhi (49 kg), Abdul Karim Khattab (88 kg),  and Jamil Shibli (+107 kg) and a bronze was secured by veteran table tennis star Khitam Abu Awad in wheelchair table tennis.

Paralympic athletes are grouped in classes defined by the degree of function presented by the disability. Traditionally there are athletes who belong to six different disability groups in the Paralympics Movement: amputee, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, spinal cord injuries, intellectual disability and a group which includes all those who are not within the aforementioned groups.

NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz roared home for a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over 186th-ranked Australian Li Tu on Tuesday to launch his bid to add the US Open to the Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles he claimed this year.

The 21-year-old Spaniard pushed his Grand Slam winning streak to 15 matches as he tries to join Rod Laver and Rafael Nadal as the only men in the modern era to win the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year.

He got off to a hot start, seizing a 4-0 lead on the way to pocketing the first set.

But Tu, who came through qualifying, got to grips with the imposing Arthur Ashe Stadium and Alcaraz’s serve to take the second set.

He tried to keep the pressure on in the third, but Alcaraz’s break for a 4-3 lead opened the floodgates, the Spaniard winning the eight straight games to take the third set and build a 5-0 lead in the fourth.

But Tu wouldn’t go quietly, saving a pair of match points before Alcaraz closed it out with a love service game.

“I’m really happy to get through and get a chance to be better the next round,” Alcaraz said. “Obviously, I felt well on court. I think I hit the ball well. I moved well.

“A few things that I have to improve if I want to, you know, keep going in the draw, but obviously I have to give credit to him as well that he played really good tennis and today surprised me a little bit in the second set.”

Alcaraz had 50 winners and 30 unforced errors. Eighteen of those errors came in the second set, when he lost three straight games.

That included dropping his serve to surrender the set, Tu finally converting his fifth set point.

“After the first set that I made just two unforced errors, the second set I made 18,” Alcaraz said, saying that was as much a factor as Tu’s growing confidence on the imposing Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“He started to play better. That’s obviously serving better, playing more aggressive, and not making a lot of mistakes that he did in the first set.

“But talking about myself, it was from two to 18 unforced errors has been a huge difference for me.”

The third-seeded Spaniard, who won the first of his four Grand Slam titles in New York in 2022, will face 2021 quarter-finalist Botic van de Zandschulp in the second round, headed toward a possible semifinal showdown with top-ranked Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner.

NEW YORK — Defending champion Novak Djokovic eased into the second round of the US Open with a straight-sets victory over qualifier Radu Albot on Monday as Coco Gauff launched her defence of the women’s title with a convincing victory.

Djokovic, seeking his 25th Grand Slam title and his first since his victory at Flushing Meadows last year, wasn’t his sharpest self.

But he was more than a match for 138th-ranked Albot, breaking the Moldovan six times on the way to a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory.

He notched a men’s record 78th match win on Arthur Ashe Stadium, where he said the “electric” energy of the night session was unlike any other.

“The night sessions here are best in the world,” said Djokovic, who capped the action on a day that drew a record 74,641 spectators according to the US Tennis Association.

That included a day-session crowd of 42,886 and a record-setting night-session crowd of 31,775.

“There’s an incredible energy, and with the new rule this year that the crowd can move around, there are a lot of things happening,” the four-time champion said.

Seeded second behind Jannik Sinner, Djokovic is vying to become the first man to repeat in New York since Roger Federer won five straight US Opens from 2004-2008.

He’s coming off an emotional triumph at the Paris Olympics, but Djokovic has yet to capture a Grand Slam title this year.

He had 10 double faults among 40 unforced errors, but was nevertheless in full control throughout the two hour, seven minute contest that ended shortly before midnight.

Gauff, meanwhile, powered into the second round with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over France’s Varvara Gracheva.

The 20-year-old American fired 10 aces and needed just 66 minutes to beat 66th-ranked Gracheva. She saved eight break points — including two with aces in the final game.

“It is definitely a lot of pressure this tournament but I’m just enjoying it,” said Gauff, who is seeded third behind world number one Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka.

“Last year was incredible, so I’m just bringing those vibes and whatever happens, happens.”

Gauff has battled through an erratic season since capturing her maiden major last year and her tune-up tournaments saw her fall in the third round at Toronto before she crashed out of her first match as the defending champion in Cincinnati.

A little tough 

“The last few weeks have been a little bit tough,” Gauff said. “But today was I think the best tennis I’ve played in a while.”

American Ben Shelton opened the action on Ashe with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over 2020 champion Dominic Thiem.

Shelton’s triumph marked an end to Thiem’s Grand Slam career, the Austrian having announced he would retire at the end of 2024 after several injury-plagued seasons.

“I just want to say thanks for all the support,” Thiem told fans. “It’s been 10 years since I first played here, I had my greatest success on this court.”

Fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany needed four sets to get past lucky loser Maximilian Marterer 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-2.

Sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev beat Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-3, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 and eighth-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway advanced with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-2, 6-2 win over China’s Bu Yunchaokete.

Ruud next faces French veteran Gael Monfils, who beat Diego Schwartzman 6-7 (2/7), 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in the Argentinian’s final Grand Slam appearance as he heads into retirement.

Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka cruised into the second round with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Australian qualifier Priscilla Hon.

Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, seeded eighth, eased into the second round with a 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 victory over Spanish qualifier Marina Bassols Ribera.

Olympic women’s singles gold medallist Zheng Qinwen of China, seeded seventh, rallied from a set down to beat Amanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

STOCKHOLM — Swedish football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, who coached England from 2001 to 2006, died on Monday at the age of 76 after a battle with pancreatic cancer, his agent said.

"He passed away peacefully this morning with his family around him at his home," Eriksson's agent Bo Gustavsson told AFP.

The Swede, who managed a number of high-profile teams and took England to World Cup quarter-finals in 2002 and 2006, announced in February 2023 that he was stepping back from public life due to "health issues".

In January, he told public broadcaster Sveriges Radio that he was suffering from pancreatic cancer and that his doctor's assessment was that he had "at best maybe a year [to live], at worst a little less".

"We have known about this but it happened very quickly. We were not prepared for it to happen today," Gustavsson told AFP.

Born on February 5, 1948 in Sunne in western Sweden, Eriksson, who goes by "Svennis" to Swedes, found success as a football manager after retiring from a modest career as a defender.

In 1977, he became manager of Swedish club Degerfors IF. After leading the small club to success in lower divisions, he attracted the attention of bigger clubs.

'Thank you for everything' 

He went on to manage Sweden's IFK Goteborg before finding success internationally, managing Benfica in Portugal, as well as several Italian teams including Roma and Lazio.

"Thank you for everything you have done for us, coach," his former club Lazio said in a post to social media.

His most high-profile position was as the first foreigner to manage England's national squad.

During his spell, he took England to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2002, where they were knocked out by Brazil.

They also made the last eight four years later where Portugal came out on top in a penalty shoot-out in a game where Wayne Rooney was sent off after a clash with his then Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.

Eriksson led England to the last eight of the 2004 Euros where Portugal also knocked them out in another penalty shoot-out.

He left the England job in 2006 after five years in charge.

'Special memories' 

His time in the hotseat had seen a memorable 5-1 win over Germany in a World Cup qualifier but also controversy over his personal life, including an affair with television presenter Ulrika Jonsson.

"This is a very sad day. He gave all England fans such special memories," Mark Bullingham, CEO of England's Football Association, said in a statement.

"Sven will be rightly recognised and forever remembered for his significant work with the England team, and for his wider contribution to the game," Bullingham continued.

England's Prince William, who said he met Eriksson several times while president of the English Football Association, said he "was always struck by his charisma and passion for the game".

"My thoughts are with his family and friends. A true gentleman of the game," the prince said in a post to X.

Eriksson went on to manage Mexico, Ivory Coast and the Philippines, but never his native Sweden's national squad.

In March, Eriksson fulfilled what he said had been a life-long dream of managing English football club Liverpool.

Alongside former Liverpool favourites Ian Rush, John Barnes and John Aldridge in the home dug-out, he managed Liverpool Legends in a charity match against Ajax Legends, overseeing a 4-2 win for his team.

Eriksson said afterwards he had shed tears before kick-off, when he received a standing ovation from the crowd as he walked out onto the pitch, with fans singing the Liverpool anthem of 'You'll Never Walk Alone'.

"That will be a huge memory in life," said Eriksson said. "Absolutely beautiful."