 Nordahl withAC 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 | 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 | (499) | |||||||||||||||
| 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
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Nils Gunnar Nordahl (Swedish pronunciation:[ˈɡɵ̌nːarˈnûːɖɑːl]; 19 October 1921 – 15 September 1995)[1] was a Swedish professionalfootballer. A highly prolific, powerful, and physically strongstriker, with an eye for goal, he is best known for his spell atAC Milan from 1949 to 1956, in which he won thescudetto twice, and also the title ofpluricapocannoniere, 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 byFrancesco Totti in January 2012.[3] He still holds the record forgoals per appearance in Italy. He had several nicknames in Italy, whereof the most famous wasIl Cannoniere ("The Prime Gunner"). He was also known asIl Pompiere ("The Fireman") andIl Bisonte ("The Bison'").
A full international between 1942 and 1948, he won 33caps and scored 43 goals for theSweden national team. He represented his country at the1948 Summer Olympics, where he was the joint top scorer alongsideDenmark'sJohn 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 inFourFourTwo magazine's list of the 100 greatest players of all time, at the 54th position.[8]
He is the father of former footballerThomas Nordahl.[9][10]
Nordahl started out at Hörnefors IF in Sweden before moving to firstDegerfors IF and thenIFK 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.[11]
Nordahl transferred toAC Milan on 22 January 1949. This made him the first Swedish player to play in a foreign league.[12] Later, he would team up with his national team strike partners,Gunnar Gren andNils Liedholm to form the renownedGre-No-Li trio. Playing eight seasons with Milan, he isSerie A's multi-top-scorer a record five times (1949–50, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1953–54 and 1954–55).[6][13] Nordahl is also Milan's all-time top-scorer, with 210 league goals.[14]
Nordahl is thethird-highest Serie A goalscorer of all time, with 225 goals in 291 matches,[11][13][14][15] only behindSilvio Piola[6] andFrancesco Totti.[15] That makes Nordahl the top goalscorer among non-Italian players,[13] and he is also the most efficient goalscorer goals in Serie A ever with 0.77 goals/match.[6][13] He was nicknamedIl Pompiere ("The Fireman"), because of his former job while he played in Sweden.[5]
_-_San_Siro%2c_1950_-_Carlo_Parola_and_Gunnar_Nordahl.jpg)
After leaving Milan, Nordahl played forRoma for two seasons. Nordahl's record for most goals scored in Serie A (not including Divisione Nazionale, before Serie A was installed) of 35 in1949–50 in a season was broken byGonzalo Higuaín in the2015–16 season who scored 36.[16][17] Nordahl, together with the mentioned Gre-No-Li is today legendary in Milan. When Milan strikerAndriy Shevchenko scored his 100 goal in Serie A for Milan, it is said that some old Milanese supporters commented: "Well he can double that number, and then add another 26, then, and just then, he has passedIl Cannoniere."
Nordahl was first called up to theSweden national team in 1942. In 1948, he helped Sweden to win theOlympic football tournament, achieving top tournament scoring status.[18] The Swedish team also included his brothersBertil andKnut Nordahl.[1] 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 the1950 FIFA World Cup as were Gren and Liedholm. His 33 matches in the national team resulted in scoring 43 goals.[6]However, both Nordahl and other Swedish professionals appeared in the euphemisticSveriges proffslandslag ("Swedish professional national team") during the 1950s.[19] The latter was discontinued in 1958, when Sweden, like many other nations, lifted the professional ban for respective national team consideration.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Hörnefors IF | 1937–38 | Division 3 Nedre Norrländskan | 14 | 20 | — | — | 14 | 20 | ||
| 1938–39 | Division 3 Nedre Norrländskan | 14 | 25 | — | — | 14 | 25 | |||
| 1939–40 | Division 3 Nedre Norrländskan | 13 | 23 | — | — | 13 | 23 | |||
| Total | 41 | 68 | — | — | 41 | 68 | ||||
| Degerfors | 1940–41 | Allsvenskan | 17 | 15 | — | — | 17 | 15 | ||
| 1941–42 | Allsvenskan | 21 | 13 | — | — | 21 | 13 | |||
| 1942–43 | Allsvenskan | 20 | 14 | — | — | 20 | 14 | |||
| 1943–44 | Allsvenskan | 19 | 14 | — | — | 19 | 14 | |||
| Total | 77 | 56 | — | — | 77 | 56 | ||||
| Norrköping | 1944–45 | Allsvenskan | 22 | 27 | — | — | 22 | 27 | ||
| 1945–46 | Allsvenskan | 21 | 25 | — | — | 21 | 25 | |||
| 1946–47 | Allsvenskan | 20 | 17 | — | — | 20 | 17 | |||
| 1947–48 | Allsvenskan | 22 | 18 | — | — | 22 | 18 | |||
| 1948–49 | Allsvenskan | 10 | 6 | — | — | 10 | 6 | |||
| Total | 95 | 93 | — | — | 95 | 93 | ||||
| AC Milan | 1948–49 | Serie A | 15 | 16 | — | — | 15 | 16 | ||
| 1949–50 | Serie A | 37 | 35 | — | — | 37 | 35 | |||
| 1950–51 | Serie A | 37 | 34 | — | 2[a] | 4 | 39 | 38 | ||
| 1951–52 | Serie A | 38 | 26 | — | — | 38 | 26 | |||
| 1952–53 | Serie A | 32 | 26 | — | 2[b] | 2 | 34 | 28 | ||
| 1953–54 | Serie A | 33 | 23 | — | — | 33 | 23 | |||
| 1954–55 | Serie A | 33 | 27 | — | 2[c] | 1 | 35 | 28 | ||
| 1955–56 | Serie A | 32 | 23 | — | 5[d] | 4 | 37 | 27 | ||
| Total | 257 | 210 | — | 5 | 4 | 268 | 221 | |||
| Roma | 1956–57 | Serie A | 30 | 13 | — | — | 30 | 14 | ||
| 1957–58 | Serie A | 4 | 2 | — | — | 4 | 2 | |||
| Total | 34 | 15 | — | — | 34 | 15 | ||||
| Karlstad BIK | 1959 | Division 2 Svealand | — | — | ||||||
| 1960 | Division 2 Svealand | — | — | |||||||
| Total | 24 | 11 | — | — | 24 | 11 | ||||
| Career total | 538 | 453 | — | 5 | 4 | 543 | 457 | |||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sweden | 1942 | 4 | 2 |
| 1943 | 5 | 5 | |
| 1944 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1945 | 5 | 7 | |
| 1946 | 3 | 2 | |
| 1947 | 7 | 15 | |
| 1948 | 9 | 12 | |
| Total | 33 | 43 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 June 1942 | Parken,Copenhagen, Denmark |  Denmark | 2–0 | 3–0 | Friendly | [20] |
| 2 | 4 October 1942 | Råsunda Stadium,Solna, Sweden | Denmark | 2–0 | 2–1 | Friendly | [21] |
| 3 | 20 June 1943 | Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark | Denmark | 2–2 | 2–3 | Friendly | [22] |
| 4 | 12 September 1943 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden |  Hungary | 1–0 | 2–3 | Friendly | [23] |
| 5 | 2–1 | ||||||
| 6 | 7 November 1943 | Üllői úti stadion,Budapest, Hungary | Hungary | 4–2 | 7–2 | Friendly | [24] |
| 7 | 5–2 | ||||||
| 8 | 24 June 1945 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden | Denmark | 1–1 | 2–1 | Friendly | [25] |
| 9 | 1 July 1945 | Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark | Denmark | 2–1 | 4–3 | Friendly | [26] |
| 10 | 30 September 1945 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden | Denmark | 1–1 | 4–1 | Friendly | [27] |
| 11 | 21 October 1945 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden |  Norway | 2–0 | 10–0 | Friendly | [28] |
| 12 | 3–0 | ||||||
| 13 | 8–0 | ||||||
| 14 | 10–0 | ||||||
| 15 | 7 July 1946 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden |  Switzerland | 7–2 | 7–2 | Friendly | [29] |
| 16 | 6 October 1946 | Gamla Ullevi,Gothenburg, Sweden | Denmark | 3–2 | 3–3 | Friendly | [30] |
| 17 | 15 June 1947 | Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark | Denmark | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1937–47 Nordic Football Championship | [31] |
| 18 | 2–0 | ||||||
| 19 | 26 June 1947 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden | Denmark | 4–0 | 6–1 | Friendly | [32] |
| 20 | 28 June 1947 | Helsinki Olympic Stadium,Helsinki, Finland | Norway | 1–1 | 5–1 | Friendly | [33] |
| 21 | 2–1 | ||||||
| 22 | 3–1 | ||||||
| 23 | 4–1 | ||||||
| 24 | 24 August 1947 | Ryavallen,Örebro, Sweden |  Finland | 2–0 | 7–0 | 1937–47 Nordic Football Championship | [34] |
| 25 | 4–0 | ||||||
| 26 | 5–0 | ||||||
| 27 | 14 September 1947 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden |  Poland | 1–1 | 5–4 | Friendly | [35] |
| 28 | 4–2 | ||||||
| 29 | 5 October 1947 | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden | Norway | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1937–47 Nordic Football Championship | [36] |
| 30 | 3–1 | ||||||
| 31 | 19 November 1947 | Highbury,London, England |  England | 1–2 | 2–4 | Friendly | [37] |
| 32 | 2 August 1948 | White Hart Lane, London, England |  Austria | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1948 Summer Olympics | [38] |
| 33 | 2–0 | ||||||
| 34 | 5 August 1948 | Selhurst Park, London, England |  South Korea | 2–0 | 12–0 | 1948 Summer Olympics | [39] |
| 35 | 4–0 | ||||||
| 36 | 9–0 | ||||||
| 37 | 10–0 | ||||||
| 38 | 13 August 1948 | Wembley Stadium, London, England |  Yugoslavia | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1948 Summer Olympics | [40] |
| 39 | 19 September 1948 | Ullevaal Stadium,Oslo, Norway | Norway | 1–1 | 5–3 | 1948–51 Nordic Football Championship | [41] |
| 40 | 2–2 | ||||||
| 41 | 3–2 | ||||||
| 42 | 4–2 | ||||||
| 43 | 5–2 |
IFK Norrköping[6]
Sweden[6]
Individual
Records
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| International | |
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| National | |
