Sven-Goran Eriksson is one of the world’s top coaches with a coaching CV that includes The England National Team, Manchester City, Roma, Benfica, Lazio, and Sampdoria. He is the only coach to have won a league title and a cup double in the same year in three different countries; Italy, Sweden and Portugal.
His understanding and belief in the importance of sport psychology in soccer has been one of the keys to his success and has early adoption of mental game principles has been instrumental in the acceptance of sport psychology into the world of professional soccer. As early as 1977, before sport psychology had yet to fully emerge on the international soccer scene, Eriksson introduced a sport psychologist to Degerfors, the Swedish team he was coaching at the time. The impact he saw was tremendous and success followed shortly after as Degerfors were promoted.
Since then Eriksson has involved sport psychologists in every team he has coached since and considers it a must for any top side.
Eriksson is co-author (with with Norwegian Sport Psychologist Willi Railo) of the book Sven-Goran Eriksson On Soccer which provides great insight into important sport psychological challenges (e.g., how to get the right spirit flowing through a team, how to deal with players who lack self-belief and practical ways to set and achieve goals).