Philippines beat Singapore 1-0 in former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson's first game in charge... his 17th job in a career spanning 41 years

  • Sven-Goran Eriksson's Philippines side beat Singapore 1-0 in his first game
  • Patrick Reichelt scored the only goal of the game with 12 minutes remaining  
  • The 70 year old was appointed last month after Terry Butcher quit the role 
  • It is Eriksson's fourth international job and his 17th managerial role in total 

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson started his latest stint in international football with a victory, as his Philippines side beat Singapore 1-0 on Tuesday.

Eriksson was appointed last month to lead Philippines through the Asean Championship before taking the Azkals to their first appearance at the finals of the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates in January.

The Swede, though, has work to do if he is to build a team that will make much of an impression at the continental championships early next year, after a lacklustre performance against the Singaporeans in their first Asean Football Federation Championship match.

The Philippines beat Singapore 1-0 in Sven-Goran Eriksson's first game as manager

The Philippines beat Singapore 1-0 in Sven-Goran Eriksson's first game as manager

Despite dominating possession, the Philippines created little of note, with Phil Younghusband going closest to breaking the deadlock before Patrick Reichelt scored the only goal of the game 12 minutes from time.


The win gives the Philippines three points and sees them go level with Thailand, Indonesia and the Singaporeans in group B of the regional tournament. The top two in the five-team group advance to the semi-finals. 

They face Timor-Leste on Saturday, before Thailand visit next Wednesday and round of the group stage with a trip to Indonesia. 

It is the latest stop in a remarkable managerial career for the 70 year old.

The 70 year old was appointed after Terry Butcher quit before taking charge of his first game

The 70 year old was appointed after Terry Butcher quit before taking charge of his first game

It is the 17th job of Eriksson's career and he has managed in eight different countries 

It is the 17th job of Eriksson's career and he has managed in eight different countries 

He spent five years as England boss between 2001 and 2006, during which time England made the quarter finals at both the 2002 and 2006 World Cups and Euro 2004.

Eriksson managed Manchester City during the 2007-2008 season, Leicester for a year and was also Notts County's director of football for a seven-month spell. 

Outside of England, he started with two managerial jobs in Sweden, has taken charge of four Italian clubs, had two spells a Benfica and most recently been at three different Chinese clubs.

The Philippines job is his first at international level since a brief stint in the Ivory Coast, while he also managed Mexico.

He took over as the Azkals boss in October following the departure of Terry Buthcer, who failed to take charge of a single game before quitting.