Beckham in Sweden for funeral of Sven-Goran Eriksson

KARLSTAD, Sweden (AP):

England football great David Beckham arrived in Sweden yesterday ahead of the funeral of Sven-Goran Eriksson, his former national-team coach.

Eriksson died on August 26 at the age of 76, eight months after he revealed he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had at most one year to live.

Beckham was England’s captain under Eriksson, who was in charge of the team from 2001-06, and visited his former coach in Sweden in June.

Swedish news agency TT reported that Beckham landed in the early evening yesterday at Karlstad airport, which is a short drive from Torsby — a town, located about 310 kilometres (193 miles) west of Stockholm, where the funeral will take place today in the 600-seat Fryksande church. Beckham was pictured in Swedish media checking into a hotel in Karlstad.

Torsby is in the region of Varmland, where Eriksson grew up and died.

After the church ceremony today, a musical procession will accompany the coffin that will be transported 700 metres to a museum in Torsby with a large number of original wooden houses with traditional furnishings. Speeches and eulogies will be given there.

“It is an honour to be able to come to his funeral, although it is a sad day,” Roy Hodgson, another former England coach who also arrived in Torsby yesterday, was quoted as saying by the local Warmlands Folkblad outlet.