Mats Magnusson


Mats Tuve Magnusson 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, 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 and 1990. 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, Stefan Schwarz – also his teammates at Malmö – and coach Sven-Göran Eriksson. 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 and Brazilian international Jonas.

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

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.11 September 1985Idrætsparken, Copenhagen, Denmark3–03–0Friendly
2.25 September 1985Råsunda, Solna, Sweden2–22–21986 [FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 2|1986 FIFA World Cup qualification]
3.16 November 1986Ta' Qali, Attard, Malta2–05–01988 qualifying Group 2|UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying]
4.18 April 1987Dinamo Stadium, Tbilisi, Soviet Union2–03–1Friendly
5.18 April 1987Dinamo Stadium, Tbilisi, Soviet Union3–13–1Friendly
6.26 August 1987Råsunda, Solna, Sweden1–01–0Friendly
7.1 June 1988El Helmántico, Villares de la Reina, Spain3–13–1Friendly
8.8 October 1989Råsunda, Solna, Sweden1–13–1Friendly
9.27 May 1990Råsunda, Solna, Sweden1–06–0Friendly

Honours

Benfica
Malmö
Individual