Dan Martin Nataniel Dahlin (born 16 April 1968) is a Swedish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. In his prime, he was considered one of the world's best strikers. Starting off his career with

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 Associatio ...

in 1987, he was the 1988

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

and played for clubs in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

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 Copp ...

, and the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

before retiring in 1999. A full international between 1991 and 1997, he won 60

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 Ja ...

for the Sweden national team and was a part of the Sweden team that finished third in the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

. He also represented Sweden at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

as well as

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

. In 1993, 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 wa ...

as Sweden's best footballer of the year.

Early life

Dahlin was born in

Uddevalla Uddevalla (old no, Oddevold) is a town and the seat of Uddevalla Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. In 2015, it had a population of 34 781. It is located at a bay of the south-eastern part of Skagerrak. The beaches of Uddevalla ...

, Sweden. He is the son of a Venezuelan father, who was a musician, and a Swedish mother. Named after Martin Luther King Jr., he was born in

, but spent his upbringing in Lund.

Club career

In 1993, he was selected as best Swedish player of the year, winning

. He played for

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

, A.S. Roma,

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of thr ...

and

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

. The most successful time of his career he spent with Borussia Mönchengladbach with whom he won the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesl ...

in 1995 along with

Stefan Effenberg Stefan Effenberg (; born 2 August 1968) is a German former footballer who most recently acted as sporting director for KFC Uerdingen 05. A midfielder, he was known for his leadership skills, passing range, shooting ability, and physical strengt ...

. Dahlin transferred from Roma to Blackburn Rovers in mid-1997 and made 21 appearances in the 1997–98 season, scoring four goals. In the 1998–99 season, he only played five games when an injury in a training game ruled him out for the rest of the season and contributed to his retirement from the game after a short spell at Hamburger SV in 1999. Blackburn Rovers later sued their insurance company who had refused to pay out over the injury claiming that normal wear and tear could have been a contributing factor. Although the initial verdict was given in favour of the club, in 2005 the Court of Appeal overturned the verdict and sent it back to the lower court. On 12 April 2006, the High Court ruled in favour of the insurance company, decreeing that the player probably had a pre-existing condition. This decision left Blackburn about £4 million out-of-pocket.

International career

In 1988, he became the second afro Swedish player to represent Sweden. He was part of the Swedish national team which finished third in the

, scoring four goals in the tournament. He also participated in the team which reached the semifinals of

Retirement

Dahlin officially lives in Monaco. He lends his name to a clothing line. He speaks three languages – Swedish, English and German. Dahlin became a sports agent working for former teammate Roger Ljung's sport agency Roger Ljung Promotion AB. He has since formed his own agency called MD Management. He represents Ola Toivonen, Guillermo Molins, Markus Rosenberg, Jonas Olsson, Behrang Safari and Pontus Jansson.

Career statistics

Club

:Source:

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year International goals :''Scores and results list Sweden's goal tally first.''

Honours

Malmö FF * Swedish Champion: 1988 *

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 le ...

: 1988,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams co ...

: 1988–89 Borussia Mönchengladbach *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

: 1994–95 Sweden *

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

third place:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

Individual *

: 1988 *

: 1993 * '' kicker''

Team of the Season: 1995–96

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dahlin, Martin Living people 1968 births Association football forwards Swedish footballers Footballers from Skåne County People from Uddevalla Municipality Sweden international footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers Sweden youth international footballers Swedish expatriate footballers Malmö FF players Borussia Mönchengladbach players A.S. Roma players Hamburger SV players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Allsvenskan players Bundesliga players Serie A players Premier League players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Italy Association football agents Swedish sports agents UEFA Euro 1992 players 1994 FIFA World Cup players Olympic footballers of Sweden Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Swedish people of Venezuelan descent Swedish expatriate sportspeople in England Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy