Sven-Goran Eriksson will fulfil his lifelong dream of managing Liverpool when he takes his place in the LFC Legends dugout for a charity game against Ajax Legends next month.

Former England boss Eriksson revealed in January he had “best case a year” to live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

During a round of TV interviews upon revealing his health issues, the 76-year-old Swede disclosed his lifelong love for Liverpool and how he always wished to be manager of the club.

Liverpool announced on Tuesday morning that Eriksson, who guided England to the quarter-finals of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, will be part of the LFC Legends management team at Anfield for the match on March 23.

“The former England boss will join a dugout of LFC greats, including Ian Rush, John Barnes and John Aldridge, for the annual LFC Foundation charity match,” Liverpool said.

“All connected with the club and LFC Foundation look forward to warmly welcoming LFC fan Sven and his family to Anfield – and seeing him in the dugout on the day – for a fantastic fundraising occasion.”

Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, speaking shortly after Eriksson went public with his diagnosis, opened the door for the Swede to spend the day as Liverpool manager.

“I don’t know him, unfortunately not,” the German was quoted as saying in several newspapers. “I know him without knowing him, we never met.

“Yes, it was obviously very touching news when you heard about it. I heard for the first time about his admiration or love for Liverpool and that he was a fan for his whole life.

“Absolutely he’s very welcome to come here and he can sit in my seat in my office and do my job for a day if he wants. That’s no problem.

“Being on the sideline might be a little bit more difficult. To have him here and show him everything and how this wonderful club developed over the years, I think that’s definitely something we will tell him. He can come over and have a few wonderful hours here, I’m sure.”

Liverpool’s squad for next month’s charity game will include the likes of Jerzy Dudek, Sander Westerveld, Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio, Gregory Vignal and Djibril Cisse, while former Reds and Ajax forward Ryan Babel will feature for both sides.

LFC Foundation’s two previous ‘Legends’ matches against Manchester United and Celtic raised £1.45million in total for the club’s charity and its partners, Liverpool said.

Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge admits dementia and Alzheimer’s are a growing concern for players of his generation as the “damage has been done”.

The 65-year-old said a number of Anfield greats who had died in recent years had shown signs of being affected and there were currently four “proper Liverpool legends” having problems with the conditions.

One of those is former captain Ron Yeats, aged 86, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s five years ago.

Aldridge himself has undergone tests but admits there is little he can do at this stage of his life.

“The damage has been done,” he told the PA news agency.

“I headed the ball as much as anyone else, I just used to love heading the ball, practising every day.

“We trained with the heavier balls and we’d stay behind after training and head it 50 or 60 times.

“I’ve had some problems myself and I had some tests. But I’m not worried about myself as much as worried about my family because we’ve all seen what these illnesses do to the people around you who suffer more.”

This week legal teams representing more than a dozen players, including the family of England World Cup winner Nobby Stiles who died with dementia in 2020, appeared in the High Court in London for the first hearing in their claims against the Football Association, the English Football League, the Football Association of Wales and the International Football Association Board for brain injuries allegedly suffered during their careers.

Lawyers for the Stiles family have previously claimed the sporting bodies did not take adequate action to reduce heading the ball in training and during matches.

Aldridge was one of a number of former Liverpool players who last month helped launch the new LFC Memories app, part-funded by the LFC Foundation, which uses sights and sounds from the club’s illustrious history to help fans living with dementia and is the first of its kind to be developed directly with a professional football club.

But the ex-Republic of Ireland striker, who scored 60 goals across the 1987-88 and 88-89 seasons for the Reds, said some of the club’s greats were struggling themselves.

“It seems of the lads that have passed away from the 50s, 60s and some 70s who were my heroes, 70 to 80 per cent had dementia or Alzheimer’s problems as well as the illness that took them,” he said.

“We’ve got four ex-players and proper Liverpool legends who have problems with it now. These are people who made Liverpool great and why we are where we are.”

Aldridge is chairman of the former players’ association Forever Reds, which raised £75,000 for ex-footballers and local good causes with a Christmas dinner attended by 500 guests at Anfield last month.

“We help our ex-players in any way we can. We are doing it now with two great players of the past,” he said.