Quick Facts
Biography
Mats Tuve Magnusson (born 10 July 1963) is a retired Swedish professional footballer who played as a striker.
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 Swedish first division.
At the Lisbon club, where he arrived in 1987 as a replacement for another Nordic, Michael Manniche, Magnusson developed as a top flight goalscorer, winning two national leagues and appearing at the European Cup finals in 1988 (lost to PSV Eindhoven in a penalty shoot-out) and 1990 (losing to A.C. Milan). In 1989–90, even though Benfica lost to FC Porto in the league, he finished as top scorer of the competition with 33 goals in 32 games; 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).
International career
Magnusson gained 30 caps for the Swedish 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.
International goals
- Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first.
| # | 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 World Cup qualification |
| 3. | 16 November 1986 | Ta' Qali, Attard, Malta |  Malta | 2–0 | 5–0 | 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 |
Post-retirement
Sixteen years after his retirement, Magnusson made a short comeback to the footbaling 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 footbaling, and made the crowd laugh on several occasions (including two occasions where he fell while trying to dominate the ball), he entered the pitch in the closing minutes, and was cheered by an adoring crowd with chants of "Mats Magnusson".
Honours
Club
- Benfica
- Primeira Liga: 1988–89, 1990–91
- Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1989
- European Cup: Runner-up 1987–88, 1989–90
- Taça de Portugal: Runner-up 1988–89
- Malmö
- Allsvenskan: 1985, 1986, 1987
- Svenska Cupen: 1983–84, 1985–86
Individual
- Primeira Liga: Top scorer 1989–90
- ^ "Bicampeões para a história" [Back-to-back champions to history]. Visão (in Portuguese). Portugal: Impresa Publishing: 57. May 2015. ISSN 0872-3540.