Sven-Goran Eriksson bids farewell as Ivory Coast coach after World Cup exit

Sven-Goran Eriksson bids farewell to ICoast

NELSPRUIT, South Africa — Sven-Goran Eriksson has resigned as coach of Ivory Coast after the team was eliminated from the World Cup.

Appointed only three months ago, Eriksson says continuing in the post had “never been a discussion” and that he always planned to walk away after Ivory Coast was knocked out of the tournament in South Africa.

“It was clear when I took the job that it was until the end of our World Cup and that’s today,” Eriksson said.

Eriksson coached England to the quarterfinals in the previous two World Cup tournaments, but Ivory Coast fell short of the round of 16 despite beating North Korea 3-0 in its final game.

Eriksson enjoyed huge success early in his career as a coach after retiring as a player at the age of 27 due to a knee injury.

He took third-division Swedish team Degerfors into the top flight in three years and then moved to IFK Goteborg and won two league titles and a Swedish Cup, plus the 1982 UEFA Cup.

The success continued abroad as Eriksson won Portuguese titles with Benfica before moving to Italy for successful stints with AS Roma and Sampdoria.

Eriksson moved to Lazio and capped his time in Italy with a Cup Winners’ Cup title and a league and cup double before taking the England job in 2001.

His time in charge of England was marred by revelations about his private life.

A season in charge at Manchester City followed before a move to Mexico and a surprise spell as director of football at English fourth-tier side Notts County.

Eriksson said he did not know what his next move would be.

“I’ll stay (at the World Cup) some days looking at the football and then I’ll probably go taking some holiday,” he said. “Then, we’ll see. I don’t know — something, hopefully.”