Mats Magnusson

Mats Tuve Magnusson (born 10 July 1963) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Starting off his career with Malmö FF, he is best remembered for his time with Benfica with which he won two league titles, reached two European Cup finals, and was the 1989–90 Primeira Liga top scorer. A full international between 1984 and 1990, he won 30 caps for the Sweden national team and represented his country at the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Mats Magnusson
Personal information
Full name Mats Tuve Magnusson
Date of birth (1963-07-10) 10 July 1963
Place of birth Helsingborg, Sweden
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1985 Malmö FF 38 (20)
1985–1986 Servette 22 (14)
1986–1987 Malmö FF 25 (14)
1987–1992 Benfica 122 (65)
1992–1994 Helsingborg 47 (27)
Total 254 (140)
National team
1984–1990 Sweden 30 (9)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Magnusson was born in Helsingborg. During his career he played for Malmö FF (two spells), Servette FC, S.L. Benfica and Helsingborgs IF. Upon his return home he helped the latter side, featuring a young Henrik Larsson, reach the Allsvenskan.

At the Lisbon club, where he arrived in 1987 as a replacement for another Nordic, Michael Manniche, Magnusson developed as a top flight goalscorer, winning two Primeira Liga championships and appearing at the European Cup finals in 1988 (lost to PSV Eindhoven in a penalty shoot-out)[1] and 1990 (losing to A.C. Milan).[2] In 1989–90, even though they lost to FC Porto in the league, he finished as top scorer of the competition with 33 goals in 32 games;[3] during his time with Benfica he shared team with countrymen Jonas Thern (1989–92), Stefan Schwarz (1990–94) – also his teammates at Malmö – and coach Sven-Göran Eriksson (1989–92).[4][5]

International career

Magnusson earned 30 caps for the Sweden national team, and played in the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals in Italy where he suffered an injury that made him miss nearly one year of football. His debut came on 22 August 1984, as he started in a 1–1 friendly draw to Mexico played in Malmö.

Career statistics

International goals
Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.11 September 1985Idrætsparken, Copenhagen, Denmark Denmark3–03–0Friendly
2.25 September 1985Råsunda, Solna, Sweden West Germany2–22–21986 World Cup qualification
3.16 November 1986Ta' Qali, Attard, Malta Malta2–05–0Euro 1988 qualifying
4.18 April 1987Dinamo Stadium, Tbilisi, Soviet Union Soviet Union2–03–1Friendly
5.3–1
6.26 August 1987Råsunda, Solna, Sweden Denmark1–01–0Friendly
7.1 June 1988El Helmántico, Salamanca, Spain Spain3–13–1Friendly
8.8 October 1989Råsunda, Solna, Sweden Albania1–13–1Friendly
9.27 May 1990Råsunda, Solna, Sweden Finland1–06–0Friendly

Post-retirement

Sixteen years after his retirement, Magnusson made a short comeback to the footballing scene. He accepted an invitation from old club Benfica to take part in a charity match to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake, on 25 January 2010, which also coincided with the 68th birthday of club legend Eusébio: his team, Benfica All Stars, consisted of both retired and current Benfica players, which played "against" Zidane XI, a team consisting of players hand-picked by former French legend Zinedine Zidane.

Even though Magnusson had obviously gained a considerable amount of weight since his active days of footballing, and made the crowd laugh on several occasions (including two occasions where he fell while trying to dominate the ball),[6] he entered the pitch in the closing minutes, and was cheered by an adoring crowd with chants of "Mats Magnusson".[7]

Honours

Club

Benfica

Malmö

Individual

References
  1. "European Competitions 1987–88". RSSSF. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  2. "Champions' Cup 1989–90". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  3. "Portugal – List of Topscorers". RSSSF. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  4. "Suecos só vingaram no Benfica" [Swedes only made it big in Benfica]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 25 March 2009. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  5. Tovar, Rui Miguel (2 January 2015). "Magnusson: "O Estádio da Luz assustava qualquer um. Até a mim"" [Magnusson: "The Estádio da Luz frightened anyone. Even me"]. i (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  6. "Magnusson: "Caí porque houve falta"" [Magnusson: "I fell down because there was a foul"]. Record (in Portuguese). 26 January 2010. Archived from the original on 30 December 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  7. "Mats Magnusson (Benfica) – Match Against Poverty (25-01-2010)". YouTube. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
  8. "Bicampeões para a história" [Back-to-back champions for the ages]. Visão (in Portuguese). Portugal: Impresa Publishing. May 2015. p. 57. ISSN 0872-3540.
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