Gunnar Nordahl

Gunnar Nordahl
Nordahl with AC Milan in the 1950s
Personal information
Full name Nils Gunnar Nordahl
Date of birth (1921-10-19)19 October 1921
Place of birth Hörnefors, Sweden
Date of death 15 September 1995(1995-09-15) (aged 73)
Place of death Alghero, Italy
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1937–1940 Hörnefors IF 41 (68)
1940–1944 Degerfors IF 77 (56)
1944–1949 IFK Norrköping 95 (93)
1949–1956 AC Milan 257 (210)
1956–1958 Roma 34 (15)
1959–1960 Karlstad BIK 24 (11)
Total 528 (453)
International career
1942–1948 Sweden 33 (43)
Managerial career
1958–1959 AS Roma (player-manager)
1959–1961 Karlstad BIK
1961–1964 Degerfors IF
1967–1970 IFK Norrköping
1971–1973 IF Saab
1974 IK Sleipner
1975–1976 Östers IF
1977–1978 AIK
1979–1980 IFK Norrköping
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing  Sweden
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1948 London Team Competition
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nils Gunnar Nordahl (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈɡɵ̌nːar ˈnûːɖɑːl]; 19 October 1921 – 15 September 1995)[1] was a Swedish professional footballer. A highly prolific, powerful, and physically strong striker, with an eye for goal, he is best known for his spell at AC Milan from 1949 to 1956, in which he won the scudetto twice, and also the title of pluricapocannoniere, with an unprecedented five top scorer (capocannonieri) awards, more than any other player in the history of the Italian championship.[2]

Nordahl is Milan’s all-time record goalscorer, and he long held the record for most goals for a single club in the history of Italian league, before being surpassed by Francesco Totti in January 2012.[3] He still holds the record for goals per appearance in Italy. He had several nicknames in Italy, whereof the most famous was Il Cannoniere ("The Prime Gunner"). He was also known as Il Pompiere ("The Fireman") and Il Bisonte ("The Bison'").

A full international between 1942 and 1948, he won 33 caps and scored 43 goals for the Sweden national team. He represented his country at the 1948 Summer Olympics, where he was the joint top scorer alongside Denmark's John Hansen as Sweden won gold.

Nordahl is considered to be one of the greatest Swedish players[4][5] and one of the best strikers of all-time.[6][7] In 2017, he was included in FourFourTwo magazine's list of the 100 greatest players of all time, at the 54th position.[8]

He is the father of former footballer Thomas Nordahl.[9][10]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference sr was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Roberto Di Maggio; Igor Kramarsic; Alberto Novello (8 June 2017). "Italy - Serie A Top Scorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Roma's Francesco Totti breaks Gunnar Nordahl's all-time record of 210 league goals with a single Italian club". Goal.com. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  4. ^ "10 Best Swedish Soccer Players of All Time". Soccer Mavericks. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  5. ^ Chiesa, Carlo F. (22 August 1999). "We are the champions - I 150 fuoriclasse che hanno fatto la storia del calcio" [The 150 champions that made football's history]. Calcio 2000 (in Italian). Action Group S.r.l. p. 123.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference FIFA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Ranking the Top 60 Strikers of All Time".
  8. ^ Yorkhin, Michael (25 July 2017). "FourFourTwo's 100 Greatest Footballers EVER: 60 to 51". FourFourtwo. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
  9. ^ Gunnar Nordahl. Swedish Olympic Committee
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference r1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).