Gunnar Nordahl

Swedish association football player (1921-1995)

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Sweden rank#245

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Fame59.4
Momentum9.0
Sweden rank#245
Footballers rank#92
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Lived 1921–1995, aged 74Sweden

Sweden FootballersFootball / Soccer Player

Wikipedia
50 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Sweden
#245
Footballers
Era
1921–1995
Aged 74
Awards
1
recognised work

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

AC Milan's all-time leading scorer wasn't Italian. Gunnar Nordahl arrived from Sweden in 1949 and spent seven years dismantling Serie A defenses with such ruthless consistency that he won five top scorer titles — a record that still stands — and earned the nickname "Il Cannoniere," the gunner.

Biography

About

Born 19 October 1921, Nordahl played for Sweden through the 1940s, scoring 43 goals in 33 international appearances and finishing joint top scorer as Sweden took gold at the 1948 Olympics. Milan signed him in 1949, and what followed was a seven-year siege: two scudetti, five capocannonieri crowns, and a goalscoring rate per appearance that no one in Italian league history has matched. He left Milan in 1956 as their all-time leading scorer, a mark that stood alone until Francesco Totti's total Roma goals overtook it in 2012, though Nordahl's Milan record remains untouched. He died 15 September…

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