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 (age 61)
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)
International career
1979	Sweden U17	4	(3)
1979–1981	Sweden U19	10	(0)
1984–1990	Sweden U21	7	(1)
1984–1990	Sweden	30	(9)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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 fellow Scandinavian, 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] His total of 87 goals in all official competitions made him Benfica's top foreign goalscorer for more than twenty years. He was later surpassed by Paraguayan international Óscar Cardozo (172 goals) and Brazilian international Jonas (137 goals).

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.

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]

Career statistics

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[8]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Sweden	1984	1	0
	1985	4	2
	1986	4	1
	1987	6	3
	1988	1	1
	1989	9	1
	1990	5	1
Total		30	9

International goals

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

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	11 September 1985	Idrætsparken, Copenhagen, Denmark	Denmark	3–0	3–0	Friendly
2.	25 September 1985	Råsunda, Solna, Sweden	West Germany	2–2	2–2	1986 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.	16 November 1986	Ta' Qali, Attard, Malta	Malta	2–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying
4.	18 April 1987	Dinamo Stadium, Tbilisi, Soviet Union	Soviet Union	2–0	3–1	Friendly
5.				3–1
6.	26 August 1987	Råsunda, Solna, Sweden	Denmark	1–0	1–0	Friendly
7.	1 June 1988	El Helmántico, Salamanca, Spain	Spain	3–1	3–1	Friendly
8.	8 October 1989	Råsunda, Solna, Sweden	Albania	1–1	3–1	Friendly
9.	27 May 1990	Råsunda, Solna, Sweden	Finland	1–0	6–0	Friendly

Honours

Benfica

• Primeira Liga:^[9] 1988–89, 1990–91
• Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira:^[9] 1989
• Taça de Portugal Runner-up: 1988–89
• European Cup Runner-up: 1987–88, 1989–90

Malmö

• Allsvenskan: 1985, 1986, 1987
• Svenska Cupen: 1983–84, 1985–86

Individual

• Primeira Liga top scorer: 1989–90

References

1. "European Competitions 1987–88". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
2. "Champions' Cup 1989–90". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
3. "Portugal – List of Topscorers". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 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)". Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2010 – via YouTube.
8. "Mats Magnusson – Spelarstatistik – Svensk fotboll" (in Swedish). Swedish Football Association. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
9. "Bicampeões para a história" [Back-to-back champions for the ages]. Visão (in Portuguese). Portugal: Impresa Publishing. May 2015. p. 57. ISSN 0872-3540.

External links

• Mats Magnusson at ForaDeJogo (archived)
• Mats Magnusson at National-Football-Teams.com
• Mats Magnusson – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Mats Magnusson at EU-Football.info