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Olympic medal record
Competitor for  Sweden
Men's Football
Gold	1948 London	Team Competition

Gunnar Nordahl (October 19, 1921 – September 15, 1995) was a Swedish football player, best known for his play in AC Milan 1949-1956.

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

Nordahl transferred to AC Milan on January 22, 1949. Later, he would team up with his national team strike partners, Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm to form the renowned Gre-No-Li trio. In his eight seasons with AC Milan, he was Serie A's top-scorer five times. Nordahl is AC Milan's all-time top-scorer, with 210 league goals. He is still the second-highest Serie A goalscorer of all time, with 225 goals in 291 matches. Only Silvio Piola has scored more goals in that division. 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. Only players who has scored more than one hundred goals are counted in this record, where for example Piola scored his 247 goals in 537 games, i.e. 0,46 goals/match.

After leaving Milan, Nordahl played for Roma for two seasons. Nordahl still holds the post-war record for the most goals in a season in Italy, with 35 goals 1949-1950.

Nordahl was first called-up to the Swedish national team in 1945. In 1948, he helped Sweden to win the Olympic football tournament, becoming the tournament's top scorer on the way. Nordahl's transfer to Milan forced him to retire from the national team, as the rules at the time prevented professionals from the Swedish national team, being not called to 1950 FIFA World Cup along his fellows Gren and Liedholm. In his 30 matches in the national team, he scored a total of 44 goals, or about 1.5 goals per game.

He won the Olympics along with his brothers Bertil and Knut Nordahl. Bertil also transferred to Italy after the Games (to Atalanta B.C.) and, due to this, was also not called to the World Cup. Knut stayed at Sweden and was called to the World Cup. After the tournament, he finally went to Italy, bought by AS Roma.

Nordahl, together with the mentioned Gre-No-Li is today legendary in Milan, when Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko scored his 100 goal in Serie A for Milan it is said that the old Milanese supporters said: "Well he can double that number, and then add another 26, then, and just then, he has passed Il Canoniere."

Thomas Nordahl, who is Gunnar's son, was a member of Sweden's 1970 FIFA World Cup squad.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Honours

• 2 x Italian Title
• 4 x Swedish Title
• 2 x Swedish Cup
• 2 x Coppa Latina
• 1 x Olympic Gold Medal
• 1 x Olympic Games Top Scorer
• 4 x Italian Cups
• 5 x Italian League Top Scorer
• 4 x Swedish League Top Scorer

[edit] External links

• List of Swedish Players and Coaches in Italy since 1945 - RSSSF
• Detail of international appearances and goals - by Roberto Mamrud, RSSSF

v • d • e Sweden squad – 1948 Summer Olympics Gold Medalists MC Andersson • AT Carlsson • DF Emanuelsson • AT Gren • AT Jönsson • MC Leander • AT Liedholm • G Lindberg • DF E. Nilsson • AT S. Nilsson • MC B. Nordahl • AT G. Nordahl • MC K. Nordahl • MC Rosén • MC Rosengren • G Svensson • Coach: Raynor