Cancer-stricken Sven-Goran Eriksson has been granted his lifelong wish of managing Liverpool, with the former England boss leading a ‘Legends’ team alongside John Barnes, Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler. 

The 76-year-old revealed in January that he had only a year to live in a ‘best case’ scenario and told how one of his few regrets was never taking charge at Anfield – having supported the side since childhood. 

Following a massive outpouring of support from fans, it’s now been confirmed that Eriksson’s wish will finally be fulfilled when he joins former Liverpool stars in the manager’s dugout for the Liverpool Legends charity game against Ajax on March 23.

The Swede said he was delighted to accept the offer, telling Good Morning Britain: ‘It has always been my dream. I’m not complaining – I had a lot of good football teams, national teams and clubs. I’m happy anyhow.’

Liverpool said in a statement: ‘All connected with the club and LFC Foundation look forward to warmly welcoming LFC fan Sven and his family to Anfield – and seeing him in the dugout on the day – for a fantastic fundraising occasion.’ 

Liverpool have confirmed that Sven-Goran Eriksson will lead their legends team in a charity game – fulfilling a dying wish of the former England manager

Sven revealed last month that he has been diagnosed with a terminal cancer and that he has been been battling the illness secretly for a year having only told close family and friends

The 76-year-old revealed in an interview since that his dream was to manage Liverpool

He will join Liverpool legends including Ian Rush and John Barnes on the management team

Players involved include Jerzy Dudek, Sander Westerveld, Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio, Gregory Vignal, Djibril Cisse and Ryan Babel, the former Liverpool and Ajax forward who will feature for both teams. 

The English club’s two previous charity matches against Manchester United and Celtic raised £1.45million for the Liverpool Foundation. 

Manager Jurgen Klopp has also opened the door for Eriksson to spend time with him at Liverpool’s training ground, saying previously: ‘He’s very welcome to come here and he can sit in my seat in my office and do my job for a day if he wants. That’s no problem.’

The Reds said in a statement: ‘We are delighted to confirm Sven-Goran Eriksson will be part of the LFC Legends management team for the game against Ajax Legends at Anfield, on 23 March.

‘The former England boss will join a dugout of LFC greats, including Ian Rush, John Barnes and John Aldridge, for the annual LFC Foundation charity match.

‘All connected with the club and LFC Foundation look forward to warmly welcoming LFC fan Sven and his family to Anfield – and seeing him in the dugout on the day – for a fantastic fundraising occasion.’

Erikkson twice managed an England side at Liverpool’s iconic home in games against Paraguay and Uruguay

The Swede managed England from 2001 to 2006 – with Liverpool star Steven Gerrard (left) part of the famous ‘Golden Generation’ which reached the quarter-final at three tournaments

Robbie Fowler, who played under Eriksson for England, put in a request for the Swede to be involved in next month’s game

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp also said Eriksson was ‘very welcome’ to sit in his seat

Eriksson after revealing he had pancreatic cancer vowed that he won’t let the disease consume his life, despite acknowledging that time is running out. 

Speaking ahead of an awards dinner in his homeland last month, he said: ‘I refuse to give up, I want to live an every-day normal life.’

It won’t be Eriksson’s first visit to Anfield as his England side played at the stadium against Paraguay in 2002 and Uruguay in 2006.

Before the 2006 fixture, he spoke about being influenced by the famous Anfield boot room during his formative years in management. 

He said: ‘As a young man I came here to Anfield now and then, and I visited the famous boot room. 

‘Joe Fagan invited me there 30 years ago. I saw them training and I saw them play in games many times and I learned many things.

‘Joe was a very nice man and I got to know him quite well. They were always very helpful and I learned a lot. But I think all the world learned from the great Liverpool teams of that time. 

Eriksson revealed during his time as England manager that former Liverpool boss Joe Fagan (second right) invited him to Anfield during his formative years as a coach in football

‘They kept the ball, kept things simple. It was very difficult to attack them. You have one very special thing here which makes me freeze, and that’s ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ when it is sung before the teams come out.’

Eriksson was the first foreign coach to manage England and was in the dugout for their famous 5-1 victory over Germany back in 2001. 

He led the side to the quarter-finals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups as well as Euro 2004. 

During his managerial career which spanned from 1977 to 2019, his best success came at Lazio where he won the Serie A title, two Coppa Italias, the UEFA Super Cup and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.