“I have an illness that’s serious. Best case a year, I have worst case a lot less. It’s impossible to say exactly, so it’s better to not think about it.” He said.

Eriksson, who had a 42-year career in management, learned of his cancer diagnosis “almost one year ago” and stood down from his most recent role as sporting director at Swedish club Karlstad 11 months ago because of health issues.

“I live a totally normal life, I’m not in hospital, I go now and then for a visit but I live at home and I have friends here.

“I’m going to try and exercise as much as possible, which is less than it was one year ago, but I have a normal life.

“When you get a message like that, you appreciate every day and you are happy when you wake up in the morning and you feel OK, so that’s what I’m doing.
“I thought I was fully healthy but suddenly I had a small stroke so I fell and my children took me to the hospital.

“After one day of examination, they told me I had five small strokes, but said ‘no problem, you will recover 100% from that’, but worse is they said I have cancer which they can’t operate on.

“They said they would give me treatment and medicine to try and live as long as possible. I have that diagnosis and they can’t operate, unfortunately.”