Mats Magnusson

Mats Magnusson
Personal information
Full name	Mats Tuve Magnusson
Date of birth	10 July 1963 (age 60)
Place of birth	Helsingborg, Sweden
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team
1981–1985	Malmö FF
1985–1986	Servette
1986–1987	Malmö FF
1987–1992	Benfica
1992–1994	Helsingborg
Total
International career
1979	Sweden U17
1979–1981	Sweden U19
1984–1990	Sweden U21
1984–1990	Sweden
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.

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.	18 April 1987	Dinamo Stadium, Tbilisi, Soviet Union	Soviet Union	3–1	3–1	Friendly
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