Football heavyweights, including former England captain David Beckham, travelled to rural Varmland County in Sweden to pay their respects to Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Inside the Fryksande church, in Torsby, the mourners heard renditions of Elton John's Candle in the Wind and Frank Sinatra's My Way - with the priest even performing a song herself. The priest spoke of the family's fond memories of a "loving father" who was "quite proficient in salsa", capturing Eriksson's sense of fun.
In spite of his illness, Eriksson's last months were "full of life", the priest said. The New Orleans' style funeral procession and brass band performances certainly fulfilled Eriksson's wish for his funeral to be a "joyous event".
The band played You'll Never Walk Alone, the anthem of his beloved Liverpool FC. As mourners followed Eriksson on one last journey, he certainly wasn't alone.
His funeral honoured his legacy as a loving father and trailblazing football manager, as Eriksson, who died at the age of 76 on August 26, was the first non-British manager of the England men’s football team - leading them to the quarter-finals at three major tournaments. He took the Three Lions to Germany in a crucial qualifier for the 2002 World Cup. Germany had only ever lost one World Cup qualifier at home and hadn’t lost in Munich since 1973.
England beat the much-fancied home team 5-1. The game went into folklore as one of the most famous victories on foreign soil but Eriksson was keen to play it down at the time.
“We have a very good team, I always said that," Eriksson told Sky Sports in his post-match interview, “but I don’t think we are as good as the goals show”.
England qualified for the 2002 World Cup with a last-gasp David Beckham free kick to draw 2-2 against Greece at Old Trafford, making it to the quarter finals in Japan and South Korea.
Eriksson began his career at 16, playing as a right-back for a succession of lower-tier sides in his native Sweden. In 1964, he joined Torsby IF, his hometown club, playing there for seven years before moving to the town of Amal to study economics and joining SK Sifhälla.
After a year, he moved again to KB Karlskoga, playing there for the 1972-73 season before ending his playing career aged 27. Summing up his time as a player in his 2013 autobiography, Sven: My Story, he wrote: "I was looked upon as a distinctly average defender, but someone who rarely made mistakes"
Following his diagnosis, Eriksson spent the year on emotional visits to some of his former clubs, including Lazio and Sampdoria.
