12 January 2006
Sven-Goran Eriksson Exclusive

The England Head Coach speaks exclusively to TheFA.com as he celebrates five years since his appointment.

If experience is anything to go by then England Head Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson will be challenging for the top prize at this summer's World Cup.

Sven celebrated five years in charge of the England team on Thursday, making him one of the longest serving managers in international football.

In fact, of the 31 other bosses at the tournament in Germany, only two will have been with their countries for longer.

Bruce Arena took over as USA coach in 1998, while Lars Lagerback first became associated with the Swedish national team in the same year, albeit as co-manager to Tommy Soderberg until 2004.

Sven, meanwhile officially took over the Three Lions in January 2001 and has now guided the team to three major championships.

Other World Cup managers may have been to more big tournaments - Ivory Coast boss Henri Michel has already coached France, Morocco and Cameroon at the Finals - but few know their current squad as well as Eriksson.

Indeed, Marcello Lippi with Italy, Marco van Basten with Holland and Jurgen Klinsmann with Germany have only been in charge of their respective nations since 2004.

And at the other end of the scale, Marcos Paqueta has only just been appointed manager of Saudi Arabia after they sacked Gabriel Calderon who had actually guided them to Germany.

This week the League Managers Association called for greater stability in management positions following a report by the Warwick University's Business School that the average term of employment for a manager had fallen by more than a year to just 21 months.

LMA Vice-Chairman and former Nottingham Forest manager, Frank Clarke, feels that it is equally as important to have stability within an international setup.

He said: "There is no question that it helps in all aspects for someone to be in charge for a sustained period - you can't argue with that.

"Sven has clearly improved as an international manager over the five years he has been in the job and England have a better chance this summer because of that.

"The players have improved during his time, technically they are a lot stronger, and they will have built up a solid relationship and understanding because he has been there so long. That has to be a major plus as they head to Germany."

When the World Cup managers were appointed:

1998

Bruce Arena (USA)
Lars Lagerback (Sweden)

2001

Sven-Goran Eriksson (England)
Kobi Kuhn (Switzerland)
Ricardo Lavolpe (Mexico)

2002

Carlos Alberto Parreira (Brazil)
Karel Bruckner (Czech Republic)
Zico (Brazil) Anibal Ruiz (Paraguay)
Pawel Janas (Poland)
Roger Lemerre (Tunisia)

2003

Luis de Oliveira Goncalves (Angola)
Branko Ivankovic (Iran)
Ilija Petkovic (Serbia and Montenegro)
Luiz Felipe Scolari (Portugal)

2004

Jose Pekerman (Argentina)
Zlatko Kranjcar (Croatia)
Luis Fernando (Ecuador)
Raymond Domenech (France)
Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany)
Ratomir Dujkovic (Ghana)
Marco van Basten (Holland)
Marcello Lippi (Italy)
Henri Michel (Ivory Coast)
Luis Aragones (Spain)
Stephen Keshi (Togo)
Oleg Blokhin (Ukraine)

2005

Guus Hiddink (Australia)
Alexandre Guimaraes (Costa Rica)
Dick Advocaat (South Korea)
Leo Beenhakker (Trinidad & Tobago)
Marcos Paqueta (Saudi Arabia)