Gunnar Nordahl

Sweden

Nordahl started out at Hörnefors IF in Sweden before moving to first Degerfors IF and then IFK Norrköping. He won four Swedish championships with IFK Norrköping and once scored seven goals in one game. During his time in Swedish clubs, Nordahl scored 149 goals in 172 matches.

Italy

Nordahl transferred to AC Milan on 22 January 1949. This made him the first Swedish player to play in a foreign league. Later, he would team up with his national team strike partners, Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm to form the renowned Gre-No-Li trio. Playing eight seasons with Milan, he was Serie A's top scorer a record five times (1949–50, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1953–54 and 1954–55). Nordahl is also Milan's all-time top-scorer, with 210 league goals. Nordahl is the third-highest Serie A goalscorer of all time, with 225 goals in 291 matches, only behind Silvio Piola and Francesco Totti. That makes Nordahl the top goalscorer among non-Italian players, and he is also the most efficient goalscorer goals in Serie A ever with 0.77 goals/match. He was nicknamed Il Pompiere ("The Fireman"), because of his former job while he played in Sweden.

After leaving Milan, Nordahl played for Roma for two seasons. Nordahl's record for most goals scored in Serie A (not including Divisione Nazionale, before Serie A was installed) of 35 in 1949–50 in a season was broken by Gonzalo Higuaín in the 2015–16 season who scored 36. Nordahl, together with the mentioned Gre-No-Li is today legendary in…

Nordahl was first called up to the Sweden national team in 1942. In 1948, he helped Sweden to win the Olympic football tournament, achieving top tournament scoring status. The Swedish team also included his brothers Bertil and Knut Nordahl. Nordahl's transfer to Milan forced him to retire from the national team, as the rules at the time prevented professionals from serving on the Sweden national team and unavailable to the 1950 FIFA World Cup as were Gren and Liedholm. His 33 matches in the national team resulted in scoring 43 goals. However, both Nordahl and other Swedish professionals appeared in the euphemistic Sveriges proffslandslag ("Swedish professional national team") during the 1950s. The latter was discontinued in 1958, when Sweden, like many other nations, lifted the professional ban for respective national team consideration.

Club

International

Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nordahl goal.

IFK Norrköping

Allsvenskan: 1944–45, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48 Svenska Cupen: 1945 AC Milan

Serie A: 1950–51, 1954–55 Latin Cup: 1951, 1956 Sweden

Olympic Gold Medal: 1948 Nordic Football Championship: 1937–1947 Individual

Allsvenskan top scorer: 1942–43, 1944–45, 1945–46, 1947–48 Swedish Footballer of the Year: 1947 Olympic Games top scorer: 1948 Capocannoniere: 1949–50, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1954–55 Serie A Team of The Year: 1951, 1955 AC Milan Hall of Fame Venerdì's 100 Magnifici Nordic Football Championship top scorer: 1937–1947 Allsvenskan Player of the Century: 1924–2024 Records

Most goals scored for AC Milan: 221 Most Serie A Top Scorer titles: 5 Most consecutive Serie A Top Scorer titles: 3 (record shared with Michel Platini) Most braces scored in Serie A: 49 (record shared with Silvio Piola) Most hat-tricks scored in Serie A: 17 (all with AC Milan)