Mexico City  - Sven-Goran Eriksson, who was sacked Thursday as Mexico's football coach, has good reason not to get too upset about the setback: the Swede earned some 7 million dollars in 10 months with the national team, the Mexican sports daily Record reported Friday.

"Sven-Goran Eriksson became the most costly investment in the history of Mexican football," the daily said.

The figure is the result of adding up some 2.9 million dollars that the Swede got as his salary from June 2008 and the 4.1 million dollars that the Mexican Football Federation will have to pay him for the remaining 16 months of his contract, although he will no longer hold the position in that period.

Eriksson had made it clear that he was very happy in Mexico and did not plan to resign.

However, a 3-1 defeat to Honduras late Wednesday - which left qualification for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa at risk - led Mexican football officials to terminate his contract.

Mexico played 13 games under the former England manager, which would average some 583,460 dollars per match. (dpa)