On Friday, "Svennis" will be buried in Fryksände church in Torsby.
Bengt Berg, who will hold a eulogy after the funeral, remembers a down-to-earth man who never lost his Värmland roots – but who also dared to take risks.
He wasn't ashamed of his success, but it never went to his head. And he always saw the beauty in life, he says.
The two met in Torsby as youngsters. Bengt Berg and Sven-Göran Eriksson had sports in common and became friends.
In adulthood, the contact was sporadic, but when "Svennis" moved back home to Värmland, they started meeting at his farm to drink coffee.
Saw the table tennis final
Moments that would later be included in the book "En underbar resa" which will be released on September 23.
We started our sessions with coffee and talk about football, life, our shared childhood, little Torsby, and the forest. But it became a very strange situation when the disease was discovered so clearly, says Bengt Berg.
The last time he was at Sven-Göran Eriksson's home was this summer to watch the OS final in table tennis between Truls Möregårdh and Fan Zhendong.
He lay in bed and watched. He had been sick for a long time, but then he was much weaker than before. Then you felt that it was close, says Bengt Berg.
Did you talk about death?
We did. He was very clear-sighted but never pitied his fate. I said that if you imagine a football match that never ends, it would be totally meaningless. Maybe in some way, the value of our lives lies in that they are not eternal. He received that image with a smile.
"He got to read the text"
He received a lot of love in the end. What did he say about it?
He thought it was fantastic and he got energy from it. It's almost like being at your own funeral, says Bengt Berg.
Sven-Göran Eriksson passed away on August 26 – just a month before the new book was to be released.
He at least got to read the text before it was sent to the publisher for editing. It felt good. But the best would have been if he had gotten to be there when the book was released. But that didn't happen, says Bengt Berg.
