Sven-Goran Eriksson: When a schoolboy copied his hairstyle for the 2002 World Cup | OneFootball

Of everyone involved in England’s 2002 World Cup campaign, the team’s Swedish boss Sven-Goran Eriksson is probably one of the last people you would expect young Three Lions fans to be trying to imitate.

In fairness, most youngsters across the nation were far more interested in copying captain David Beckham’s infamous ‘mohican’ hairstyle during the tournament.

Scores of schoolchildren adopted Beckham’s bold new look in support of their country. However, 10-year-old Tom Sylvester opted not to follow the crowd when asked to dress up as a famous person to celebrate the Golden Jubilee.

Not only did Tom not fancy impersonating Becks, but he wasn’t keen on dressing up as any other England player either.

Instead, the young man put on a pair of glasses and asked his mum to shave in a receding hairline on his head so he could attend as England boss Eriksson.

As you’ll see below, the resemblance really is quite striking.

A young England fan dressed up like Sven-Goran Eriksson during the 2002 World Cup – and the results were amazing

“There are quite a lot of people at school who dressed up as David Beckham and I thought Sven would be different,” said Tom during a news report on his decision to pay tribute to Eriksson.

It was certainly that, Tom.

Tom’s mum, who had originally wanted her son to dress up as Elvis Presley, admitted to the press at the time that she had been hesitant about the new look but quickly grew to appreciate it.

“I thought he was going to look like a prat but he looks pretty good. Like a cross between Sven and a Klingon without the wrinkles,” she told The Guardian.

Nearly 15 years after his brush with fame, in 2016, resulting in a thread where it was revealed that the man himself still fondly remembers his time in the limelight. He even shared a snap of a scrapbook that he put together containing all of his media appearances, including the day he was on the front page of The Sun newspaper.

We wait to see whether any youngster will manage to nail a Gareth Southgate impersonation in the same vein during this year’s World Cup in Qatar.

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