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.

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) and 1990 (losing to A.C. Milan). 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; 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). 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.

Career statistics

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 3–0 3–0 Friendly 2. 25 September 1985 Råsunda, Solna, Sweden 2–2 2–2 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification 3. 16 November 1986 Ta' Qali, Attard, Malta 2–0 5–0 UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying 4. 18 April 1987 Dinamo Stadium, Tbilisi, Soviet Union 2–0 3–1 Friendly 5. 3–1 6. 26 August 1987 Råsunda, Solna, Sweden 1–0 1–0 Friendly 7. 1 June 1988 El Helmántico, Villares de la Reina, Spain 3–1 3–1 Friendly 8. 8 October 1989 Råsunda, Solna, Sweden 1–1 3–1 Friendly 9. 27 May 1990 Råsunda, Solna, Sweden 1–0 6–0 Friendly

Honours Benfica Primeira Liga: 1988–89, 1990–91 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 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