London: Ex-England football boss Sven-Goran Eriksson and a former nanny to the Beckham family are taking legal action against Britain’s Mirror Group Newspapers over alleged phone hacking, Sky News reported Monday.

Media lawyer Mark Lewis said he had also issued High Court claims against newspapers in the Mirror group - the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People - on behalf of soap actress Shobna Gulati and former footballer Gary Flitcroft.

Eriksson’s claim dates back to when Piers Morgan was editor of the Daily Mirror. Morgan, who now hosts a talk show on US broadcaster CNN, has always denied any involvement in phone hacking.

This is the first time a publisher outside Rupert Murdoch’s News International has faced court action over hacking allegations in Britain.

The scandal led to the closure of the tycoon’s News of the World tabloid, which had a circulation of about 2.7 million, in July 2011.