PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Sweden has produced some talented footballers.
When the football site FourFourTwo ranks the 100 best players of all time, one is included.
No, it’s not Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Sweden is certainly not the biggest soccer country in the world. Our talent production and football history has a hard time matching real football countries like Brazil, Argentina, Italy and England. But we have certainly managed to bring out quite a few talented footballers over the years.
No Zlatan
Who can forget Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm which had its heyday in the 40s and 50s. Over the years, players like Neck Skoglund, Kurt Hamrin, Torbjörn Nilsson and Thomas Brolin left his mark on Swedish football. They were followed up by Henrik Larsson and Fredrik Ljungberg.
And the man who is probably everyone’s first thought when asked who is the best Swedish footballer of all time – Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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The English football magazine and now football site FourFourTwo has listed the 100 best footballers of all time.
“This is the complete compendium of characters who played heroes or villains during that time. Every man who has held ‘greatest of all time’ status in the eyes of any beholder: the definitive hundred of the greatest footballers to ever grace the turf,” they write.
The list is teeming with players from the aforementioned football-crazy countries. An excerpt of names on the list is Garrincha, Paolo Maldini, Marco van Basten and Gerda Müller. But a Swede also makes it onto the list, and it’s none of the aforementioned Swedes.
Best Swede
In place 64 on FourFourTwo’s list can be found namely Gunnar Nordahl.
He is placed above big names like Ronald Koeman, Cafu, Eric Cantona, Alan Shearer and Roberto Carlos.
Nordahl was one third of Gre-No-Li, the soccer-playing Swedish trio that was found in AC Milan for several years in the late 40s and early 50s. The two other players were the aforementioned Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm.
The kid from Hörnefors in Norrbotten was also incredible in the Swedish national team where he scored 43 goals in 33 games, and was a decisive player in the Olympic gold in 1948.
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Nordahl played before Milan for Degerfors and Norrköping, and finished in Karlstad after a short stay in Roma.
“With 210 goals in Serie A, Nordahl is one of Milan’s all-time top scorers, and no one can ever come close to his feat. The powerfully built Swede topped the shooting league in Italy five times in six years between 1950-1955, also an unbeatable achievement”, explains FourFourTwo Nordahl’s placement on the list.
READ MORE: Zlatan takes first place ahead of both Leif GW Persson and the King on the prestigious list of the Swedish people
Top 10 on the list
10. George Best (England)
9. Ronaldo (Brazil)
8. Alfredo di Stefano (Argentina/ Spain)
7. Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany)
6. Zinedine Zidane (France)
5. Johan Cruyff (Netherlands)
4. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
3. Diego Maradona (Argentina)
2. Pele (Brazil)
1. Lionel Messi (Argentina)
READ MORE: Thomas Ravelli’s appeal to Zlatan Ibrahimovic after the end of his career – now urges Ibra: “Think about it”
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