FORMER England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson’s luxury lakeside mansion has been sold in a cut-price deal as his family battle to pay off his massive debts.
The seven-bed house in Torsby, Värmland, in his native Sweden, was on the market for £2m following his death from pancreatic cancer.
But his family were forced to drop the price by £400,000 to attract offers.
An anonymous e-commerce businesswoman has now bought it for an undisclosed sum of at least £1.3m.
She revealed she fell in love with the house – called Björkefors –when she visited as a child with her dad who renovated it for Sven.
She said: “Of course I thought it was fantastic.
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“But it was still far from obvious to me to buy it when it came up for sale. It felt like a big project and a big responsibility.
“However, the opportunity to manage a small part of Värmland’s cultural heritage, and at the same time enjoy the fantastic environment, was ultimately irresistible.
“We live and work in Stockholm but my soul is always somewhere in northern Värmland. We will spend as much time as we can there.
“I come from Torsby myself, my whole family is in Värmland, and we are always in Torsby on all holidays.
“Our dream with Björkefors is to make it an obvious gathering place for the family for generations to come.”
Sven bought the house in 2002 for £4.5million, meaning his estate has made a loss of around £3m on it.
And his family – including partner Yaniseth Alcides and two children Lina and Johan – won’t see a penny of the knock-down selling price as the soccer legend died with massive debts.
Sven owed the UK taxman £7.4million and also had at least another £1million in other debts when he died last August from pancreatic cancer aged 76.
In March his family sold off his off collection of memorabilia – including his Armani suit from England’s last-16 match in the 2006 World Cup with hand-written team notes still in the pocket – for £140,000 to help settle the debts.
He earned tens of millions during his 42-year managerial career at 12 clubs and four national teams – including £22.5million in his five years as Three Lions manager.
But he owed millions to HMRC after he invested in a failed film scheme designed to defer tax bills which was ruled unlawful.
He did have nearly £5million in assets but his total debts meant his estate had a deficit of £3.7 million, forcing his family to sell his house – which had six bathrooms, tennis court, pool house and private beach – and his memorabilia.
Sven became England’s first foreign manager in 2001.
His five-year reign of 67 matches saw the so-called Golden Generation of players reach the quarter-finals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and in the 2004 Euros.
He managed 12 clubs, including Manchester City, Leicester, Benfica, Roma and Lazio, winning 19 trophies.
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When he died Prince William, President of the FA, called him a “true gentleman of the game”.
Estate agent Henrik Flint said of the house sale: “We are not revealing the final price, but there were bids from £1.3m.”
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