Johan Gunnar Gren (; 31 October 1920 – 10 November 1991) was a Swedish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach. He is best remembered for playing for

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...

and

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

. A creative forward, known for his technical skill, vision, tactical intelligence, and passing ability as a

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...

, he was part of the famous "

Gre-No-Li Gre-No-Li is a contraction of the surnames of three Swedish footballers: Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm. The denomination was colloquially used after these players composed a formidable trio of attacking players while playing for th ...

" trio of forwards at Milan and the Sweden national team. He was also capable of playing as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

, as an offensive–minded

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, known as the ''

mezzala A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

'' role in Italian football jargon, or even as a striker. A full international between 1940 and 1958, he won 57

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and scored 32 goals for the Sweden national team. He was a part of the Sweden team that won gold at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

, as well as the team that finished second at the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...

. In 1946, he was awarded

Guldbollen Guldbollen (''Golden Ball'') is a Swedish football award given by ''Aftonbladet'' and the Swedish Football Association to the best male Swedish footballer each year. History The award was created by Bengt Liljedahl and between 1946 to 1965 it was ...

as Sweden's best footballer of the year. Gren is considered to be one of Sweden's greatest and most prolific football players; a statue has been erected in his honor outside

Gamla Ullevi Gamla Ullevi () is a football stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, that opened on 5 April 2009. The stadium replaced the city's previous main football stadium, also called Gamla Ullevi, and is the home ground of GAIS, IFK Göteborg and Örgryte IS. ...

stadium.

Early years

Gren was born on 31 October 1920 to parents Johan Olsson and Gerda Maria Olsson. Gren, a son of a carpenter, grew up in

Majorna Majorna () was until 2011 one of the 21 boroughs of Gothenburg Municipality. Since 2011 it is joined with the former borough of Linnéstaden and they do together form the new borough of "Majorna-Linné". It was composed of four districts: * ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. From a young age, Gren excelled in football. On 7 October 1934,

Gothenburg Football Association Göteborgs Fotbollförbund ''(Gothenburg Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in Gothenburg and surrounding municipalities. Background Götebo ...

President Carl 'Ceve' Linde held a juggling contest. He won his first sporting prize – a bronze plaque. ''Göteborgs Sport Bladet'' wrote about 13-year-old Gren's skills and how he outshone some of the big boys in the national league. The then, 13-year-old Gren played for Bollklubben Strix. During his youth, he played for

Lindholmens BK Lindholmens or Lindholmen varv was a shipyard on the Göta älv in Gothenburg, Sweden. Named after the small leaf linden that grew on the island, Lindholmen was founded in 1848 and closed in 1976. It was at one time the largest employer in Goth ...

and GAIK before playing

Gårda BK Gårda BK is a Swedish football club located in Gothenburg. The club, formed 1 November 1919, currently plays in a local league. The club has played eight seasons in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan. Gårda BK are affiliated to the Götebor ...

Club career

Gårda BK

In 1937 he started playing for

. He made his

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

debut on 1 May 1938 against

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

which resulted in a scoreless draw. During his time there, he played a total of 54 matches scoring 16 goals.

IFK Göteborg

In 1941, he was recruited by IFK Gothenburg. During his time in the club, Gren won one national championships in the 1941/42 season and was top scorer in 1947. He won the first ever

in 1946. His first league match for IFK was in August 1941, IFK played against Gårda BK winning 6–1 with Gren scoring the first goal. His last league game for IFK was on 6 June 1949 versus

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and play their ...

in which Gothenburg lost 0–1. He had played 164 matches for IFK and scored 78 goals.

AC Milan

On 11 September 1949, he debuted for

against Sampdoria, with Milan winning 1–3. During his time with Milan, he became the 'Gre' part of the famous

trio with his Swedish teammates

Gunnar Nordahl Nils Gunnar Nordahl (; 19 October 1921 – 15 September 1995) was a Swedish professional footballer. A highly prolific, powerful, and physically strong striker, with an eye for goal, he is best known for his spell at AC Milan from 1949 to 1956, ...

('No') and

Nils Liedholm Nils Erik Liedholm (; 8 October 1922 – 5 November 2007) was a Swedish football midfielder and coach. ''Il Barone'' (The Baron), as he is affectionately known in Italy, was renowned for being part of the Swedish "Gre-No-Li" trio of strikers al ...

('Li'). He also earned the nickname the "Il Professore" which is Italian for "the professor". While at A.C. Milan, he won the league title for the 1950/51 season. He made 133 appearances in Serie A and scored 38 goals.Gunnar Gren
enciclopediadelcalcio.com Gren also managed AC Milan in 1952 before moving to

AC Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual ...

Later career

In 1953, Gren moved to

where he made 55 appearances and scored 5 goals. Then in 1955, Gren moved to Genoa CFC where he made 29 appearances and 2 goals. Tired of Italy, Gren decided to move back to Sweden. In 1956, Gren returned to Gothenburg where he joined

Örgryte IS Örgryte Idrottssällskap, commonly referred to as Örgryte IS, Örgryte () or (especially locally) ÖIS or Öis, is a Swedish sports club based in Gothenburg. It consists of four departments, namely bowling, football, athletics and wrestling. H ...

as both player and manager. Gren left in 1959 and played for GAIS in 1963.

International career

Gren made his debut for

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

on 29 August 1940 in the team's 3–2 win over

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. During the next decade he played 40 matches for the national team, ending in 1949 with 3–1 against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in a World Cup qualifier and 2–2 in a friendly against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. During this era Gren was part of the team that won the gold medal in the 1948 Olympics in London, scoring twice against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in the final on

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. As a professional, Gren was suspended from the Swedish national team. However, as the World Cup of 1958 was to be played on home soil and the Swedish team seemed too weak for the competition, the

Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association ( sv, Svenska Fotbollförbundet, SvFF) is the governing and body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues – Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women – and the men's and women's nati ...

changed this rule, and Gren, having now ended his professional career and playing in the Swedish Division 2, was again eligible. Gren went on to be the oldest player of this World Cup, 37 years old, and played an important role in the silver medal-winning Swedish team. He played five matches during the World Cup and scored one goal, 2–1 against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in the semi-final. He was also named on the 1958 World Cup All-Star Team. Gren's last cap came on 26 October 1958 against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in a 4–4 draw. At the time, he was 37 years, 360 days old. In all, Gren made 57 appearances for the national team, scoring 32 goals.

Management

Whilst at A.C. Milan, Gren managed the team in 1952. Also, Gren managed both Örgryte IS and GAIS as player manager. After retiring as a player, Gren managed several teams. Gren became the technical director for Juventus for a brief period in 1961. Gren then managed for GAIS,

IFK Värnamo IFK Värnamo is a Swedish football club located in Värnamo. The club plays in the Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. The most famous player from the club is Jonas Thern, who was captain of the Swedish national football team when the ...

Redbergslids IK Redbergslids IK (RIK), is a handball team from Gothenburg, Sweden founded in 1916. Redbergslids is the most successful club in Sweden, having won 20 Swedish Championship titles. Home games are played in Prioritet Serneke Arena. Redbergslid is ...

, Skogens IF,

IK Oddevold IK Oddevold is a Swedish football club located in Uddevalla, the name "Oddevold" being an older form of Uddevalla. The club, formed on 3 July 1932, currently plays in Sweden's third-flight league, Division 1. They play most of their home game ...

and

Fässbergs IF Fässbergs IF is a Swedish football club, founded in 1916. They are based in Mölndal, near Gothenburg. The team won the Svenska Mästerskapet in 1924. Background Fässbergs IF was formed on 24 April 1916 by the Krokslätts IK, Mölndals IS and ...

Retirement

Gren retired from football in the 1970s. He died ten days after his 71st birthday and is buried in Västra Kyrkogården (Western Cemetery),

, Västra Götaland, Sweden.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gren goal.''

Honours

;IFK Göteborg *

: 1941–42 ;A.C. Milan *

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

: 1950–51 *

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949 the football federations came together and requested FIFA to launch the competition. Europ ...

: 1950–51 ;Sweden *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

runner-up:

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

Nordic Football Championship The Nordic Football Championship ( da, Nordisk Mesterskab, no, Nordisk Mesterskap, sv, Nordiska Mästerskapet, fi, Pohjoismaiden-mestaruusturnaus, commonly abbreviated NM or PM) was an international football competition contested by the men's ...

: 1937–47, 1948–51, 1956–59 Individual *

: 1946 *

Allsvenskan top scorer The following is a list of top scorers in Allsvenskan, the highest Swedish division of football. is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ... Association football player non-biographical articles ...

: 1946–47 * Goteborg Football Association Juggling Award: 1934 * A.C. Milan Hall of Fame

References

External links

Detail of international appearances and goals
– by Roberto Mamrud,

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gren, Gunnar 1920 births 1991 deaths Swedish footballers Sweden international footballers Olympic footballers of Sweden Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Gårda BK players IFK Göteborg players A.C. Milan players ACF Fiorentina players Genoa C.F.C. players Örgryte IS players IK Oddevold players Serie A players Allsvenskan players Swedish football managers A.C. Milan managers Örgryte IS managers IFK Göteborg managers Juventus F.C. managers GAIS managers IFK Värnamo managers IK Oddevold managers Serie A managers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate football managers in Italy Swedish expatriate footballers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Footballers from Gothenburg Association football forwards Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy