Gunnar Andersson

1949/50 IFK Göteborg (SWE) 18 games, 8 goals

(Swedish Championship: 16 games, 7 goals)

(Swedish Cup: 2 games, 1 goal)

Nov 1950 Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (DAN) (Loan)

1950/58 Olympique de Marseille (FRA) 249 games, 194 goals

(French Championship: 220 games, 169 goals)

(Play-offs: 2 games, 2 goals)

(French Cup: 19 games, 17 goals)

(Charles Drago Cup: 8 games, 6 goals)

1958 SO Montpellier (FRA) 8 games, 4 goals

1958/60 Bordeaux (FRA) 31 games, 20 goals

(French Championship: 14 matches, 10 goals)

(French D2 Championship: 14 matches, 10 goals)

(French Cup: 3 matches)

1960/1961 AS Aix (FRA) 30 matches, 11 goals

(French D2 Championship: 28 matches, 10 goals)

(French Cup: 2 matches, 1 goal)

1961/62 CAL Oran (ALG)

1962/63 AS Gignac (FRA)

1964 IFK Arvika (SWE)

With the National Team :

French B: 1 cap

Karl Gunnar Andersson

Born on August 14, 1928 in Arvika (SWE)

Died on October 1, 1969 in Marseille (FRA)

Swedish/French, Striker, 1m75

Nicknames: "Gunnar de Säffle", "10h10", "Mr. 50%"

Gunnar Andersson was born on August 14, 1928 in Arvika, Sweden. Talented, he was part of the youth teams of IFK Arvika before joining IFK Åmål at 15 years old before making his professional debut with IFK Göteborg at 21 years old. He was then loaned to Kjøbenhavns Boldklub, in Denmark.

With this club, he participated in a tournament in Spain, and was spotted by Louis-Bernard Dancausse, president of Olympique de Marseille at the time. The president did not hesitate for a second to offer a contract to the Swedish player, who accepted and would write the best part of his career in France.

In the winter of 1950, the Swede decided to join Marseille, little known in his country despite his scoring qualities, he was a complete 1m75 striker, gifted in front of goals, with an impressive finish despite his young age.

At the time, the president was in conflict with the local press, who were going to carry out a crazy operation. The Swedish player who was on his way to the city in the south of France received a telegram, leading him to go down to Avignon, the player, not suspecting anything, was going to be "kidnapped" by two journalists.

His journalists, looking for a scoop, were going to carry out this symbolic kidnapping in order to annoy President Dancausse, but also to have the information on this unprecedented transfer first. Once it was over, the journalists took care to drop the player off at the Arbois hotel, the story had the gift of annoying the club president.

The player quickly got noticed for his particular way of speaking, walking like a duck, he was thus nicknamed "Mr. 10:10". Andersson's first match with Olympique de Marseille was on the 17th day of the French championship, against Rennes, a 1-1 draw against Rennes, in December 1950.

His first goals came a few days later on December 31, 1950 when he scored twice against Toulouse in a victory (4-0). He finished his first season in Marseille with 12 goals scored and a confirmed starting place.

Subsequently, the player would show exceptional scoring qualities in an Olympique de Marseille team that was collectively disappointing, far from the club's glory years. He finished top scorer in the championship twice with 31 goals scored during the 1951/52 season and then 35 goals during the 1952/53 season. At the time, it was a record!

In a team of average level, Andersson was an exception and piled up the goals. Perfectly acclimatized to life in the south of France, the player was known to greatly appreciate pastis. But Andersson was in Marseille and his crazy adventure finally began! He acclimatized very quickly in Provence and like a true Marseillais, he greatly appreciated pastis. He even scored a hat-trick on September 5, 1954 against CO Roubaix (5-2) while he had drunk ten pastis before the match because of a lost bet with a teammate.

A sign of great regularity, the one who is now nicknamed "Mr. 50%" will become known for scoring more than half of his team's goals, and he ends up being the top scorer for the Marseille club until 1958. A formidable dribbler, he was known for making an ultra-fast hook with his left foot then striking the ball with enormous power with his right foot.

Not a great worker, little pressing, few defensive returns, he was content to wait for the ball in the opponent's area, then to emerge on the crosses or passes in the opponent's penalty area. With Olympique de Marseille, he scored 194 goals in 249 matches! He scored 2 quadruplets, 10 hat-tricks and 34 doubles! Statistics that make you dream.

However, because of his limited team in terms of level, the player will only win one Charles Drago Cup in 1957, he will also be the unfortunate finalist of the 1954 Coupe de France which he loses against OGC Nice 2-1. After 8 years of loyal service to Olympique de Marseille, he leaves for Montpellier to continue his career.

He has a short stint at SO Montpellier, where he only plays 8 matches for 4 goals. He then leaves for Bordeaux at 30, he is no longer an indisputable starter, because of injuries, but remains a formidable striker, often decisive. In 2 years, he plays 30 matches for 20 goals. Subsequently, he makes stints in the French second division, in Algeria, before returning to Sweden.

The player gradually fell into alcoholism, in particular a major addiction to pastis, which was surely the cause of his death on October 1, 1969, when, at just 41 years old, he collapsed, the victim of a heart attack. The player died a few hundred meters from the Stade Vélodrome, where he would write his legend.

- Top scorer in the French championship in 1952 (31 goals) and 1953 (35 goals) (Olympique de Marseille)

Homepage