Sven review: Nancy Dell’Olio & Faria Alam dominated the doc, but Ulrika Jonsson was right not to take part
I watched Sven-Göran Eriksson’s documentary entitled Sven on Prime Video as I wanted to find more about his professional career and him as a man, but once again his personal life and in particular his relationship with Nancy Dell’Olio and his affairs with Ulrika Jonsson and Faria Alam took centre stage.
I grew up in a football obsessed household thanks to my older brother and I spent many a weekend either watching football, or playing it in the garden. When it comes to Sven-Göran Eriksson, I of course remember him when he was England’s football manager from 2001 until he left following the 2006 World Cup.
However, like many others, unfortunately until I heard about his terminal cancer diagnosis at the beginning of this year, I remember him most for his relationship with Nancy Dell’Olio and his affairs with Ulriaka Jonsson and Faria Alam rather than his football managerial career. Following the announcement of his death, I thought I would watch the Sven documentary on Prime Video to discover more about him as a man and a coach rather than learn more about his personal life. However, once again, I felt that the documentary focused too heavily on what I feel the producers felt the public wanted to know more about, the affairs.
Although Ulrika Jonsson was of course mentioned in the documentary, I feel that she made the right decision not to be a part of it.
I found it curious that Faria Alam made a point of saying she is not such a media person now and doesn’t like to tell people what she is doing, yet wanted to be a part of the documentary. She said: “To be honest I was a beautiful girl and I attracted a lot of attention.”
Faria Alam goes on to explain how she joined the FA as an Executive Assistant and her first meeting with Sven. She said: “I remember Sven came to my desk and he said “Good morning, you must be Faria,’ and he shook my hand. And he just went, “wow,” something like that and this fascinated me, this man that was so powerful but he didn’t have the mindset of a super rich man, he talked to me about poetry and art. He told me how he did yoga and things like that and I just fell in love with him, I guess.”
Call me cynical, but I didn’t believe Faria fell in love with him back when she did and after watching her in the documentary, I am not convinced to the contrary.
As for Nancy Dell’Olio, she was what I expected, and clearly enjoyed being the centre of attention back then and still today. “The first impression I had about Sven, people in power always have an extra sex appeal,” she said. “It happened that I fell in love, it wasn’t something that I was looking for. I was married and I left my husband to start my journey with Sven. We were Sven and Nancy.”
In the documentary, Sven gives us an insight into his relationship with Nancy and said: “She loved it, the attention.” Nancy then goes on to say that “I was the First Lady of English football,’ and whilst she laughed when saying this, she clearly believed she was.
When Nancy started talking about her relationship with Sven, I kind of began to feel sorry for him and I recalled his words at the beginning of the documentary when he said: “It was not a normal life, a lot of things should have been impossible. I had a good life, maybe too good, you have to pay for it.”
These are the words that resonated with me as Sven was obviously alluding to having to ‘pay’ for his private life. Although his son, daughter, and former football colleagues and players such as David Beckham and Wayne Rooney appeared in his documentary, I felt that it would have been more of a fitting tribute to have made reference to his private life but not allow it to be such an integral part of the filming.
After his death, the football journalist Henry Winter shared a video of Sven in Sweden on X and said: “This is how I will remember Seven. Full of life in the garden of his beautiful, beloved house in Sunne, Sweden, kicking a ball for his happy dog Ame. Privileged to have visited him there. RIP Sven.”
David Beckham also shared a video of him on his Instagram and said: “We laughed, we cried & we knew we were saying goodbye.. Sven thanks for always being the person you have always been, passionate, caring, calm & a true gentleman… I will be forever grateful for you making me your captain but I will forever hold these last memories on this day with you and your family.. Thank you Sven and in your last words to me, “It will be ok.”
The personal tributes by David Beckham and Henry Winter after the passing of Sven-Göran Eriksson give more insight into the man he was than the documentary was able to convey, which is such a shame.