Tore André Flo

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Tore André Flo
Tore Andre Flo 2006 06 06.jpg
Flo playing for Vålerenga
Personal information
Full name Tore André Flo
Date of birth (1973-06-15) 15 June 1973 (age 51)
Place of birth Flo, Stryn, Norway
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Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993–1994 Sogndal 44 (21)
1995 Tromsø 26 (18)
1996–1997 Brann 40 (28)
1997–2000 Chelsea 112 (34)
2000–2002 Rangers 53 (29)
2002–2003 Sunderland 29 (4)
2003–2005 Siena 63 (13)
2005–2006 Vålerenga 24 (4)
2006–2008 Leeds United 23 (4)
2008–2009 Milton Keynes Dons 13 (0)
2011–2012 Sogndal 22 (2)
Total 483 (180)
International career
1995–2004 Norway 76 (23)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 August 2012

Tore André Flo (born 15 June 1973) is a retired Norwegian football striker and youth coach. He was capped 76 times, scoring 23 goals for Norway, and represented his country in 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000, and scored Norway's first goal when Norway won 2–1 against Brazil and advanced to the second round of the 1998 World Cup.

During his professional career, he played for Sogndal, Tromsø and Brann in Tippeligaen, before he moved abroad and played for Chelsea. After a successful spell with the English club, he was sold to Rangers for £12 million and became the most expensive Norwegian player. Flo later had spells at Sunderland, Siena, Vålerenga and Leeds United before he announced his retirement in March 2008. He later made two comebacks; for Milton Keynes Dons in November 2008 and the Norwegian club Sogndal in March 2011. In August 2012 he announced his retirement for the third time. He subsequently rejoined Chelsea and is currently a member of their coaching staff.

Flo hails from the village of Flo in the municipality of Stryn in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. He comes from a family of footballers, and his brother Jostein Flo and his cousin Håvard Flo have also been capped for Norway.

Club career

Sogndal

Flo started his career with his local amateur club Stryn. In 1993, he moved to Sogndal, playing with his brothers Jostein and Jarle. Tore André Flo made his debut in Tippeligaen on 17 April 1994 against Tromsø.[1] When Sogndal was relegated from Tippeligaen in 1994, Flo was transferred to Tromsø.

Tromsø

In Tromsø, Flo became a success: he scored 18 goals in the 1995-season, and was the club's top goalscorer. His performances in that season culminated in Flo making his debut for the Norwegian national team.

Brann

Flo moved to Bergen in 1996 to play for Brann. He continued to play well, and scored 28 goals during his stay there. During his years in Brann, Flo arguably became one of Norway's best attackers.

In the first half of the 1997 season, however, he was not considered a great success by most of the Brann fans, perhaps because his mind was already in Chelsea, which he signed for under disputed circumstances. He did, however, score a hat-trick in his last game for Brann before leaving for Chelsea.

Chelsea

Flo was bought for the relatively small fee of £300,000 by the English Premier League team Chelsea in the summer of 1997. Flo would have become a Bosman player at the end of the year, which influenced the small transfer fee. Everton had made a bid of around tenfold, but then Everton manager Joe Royle fell out with his boardroom over the proposed transfer and shortly afterwards resigned. Also, the leaders of economically struggling Brann claimed to have a gentlemen's agreement with Flo that he should not exploit his Bosman status in a transfer.[citation needed].

Flo made his debut for Chelsea against Coventry City, and scored in a 3–2 loss for his side. He scored 15 goals in his debut season for Chelsea, including a hat-trick in a 6–1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane and two in a 6–2 win over Crystal Palace as Chelsea finished 4th in the FA Premier League and won the League Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup. Flo made a particularly important contribution in the latter tournament, hitting two away goals against Real Betis in the quarter-finals.

A year later, as Chelsea challenged for the title, Flo hit ten league goals, but constantly found his playing opportunities limited by manager Gianluca Vialli's squad rotation policy and the signing of Italian striker Pierluigi Casiraghi. The Blues eventually finished third, high enough for their first ever UEFA Champions League qualification. Flo scored 19 goals in the 1999–00 season, making him Chelsea's top scorer and helping the club win the FA Cup and reach the Champions League quarter-finals, where he scored twice in a 3–1 win over Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. He scored another at the Camp Nou in the return game against Barca, though the team ultimately lost 5–1 (it was 3–1 at full-time, with Chelsea conceding two goals in extra time). By the start of the 2000–01 season, Chelsea had signed strikers Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eiður Guðjohnsen, despite scoring two goals and assisting one in a 3–3 away tie against Manchester United, he was again forced onto the substitutes' bench, and he requested a move away. He made 163 appearances for Chelsea (69 of which were as a substitute) and scored 50 goals.

Rangers

In November 2000, Flo was sold to Scottish Premier League team Rangers, in a record £12 million deal, making Flo the most expensive Norwegian player ever, the most expensive SPL player ever and Rangers' most expensive player ever.[2][3][4]

Much was expected of Flo,[5] and he started off well by scoring on his début in a 5–1 victory over Rangers' arch rivals Celtic,[6] and hit 18 goals in 30 SPL games. His second season at Rangers was considered his best in Scotland, scoring 22 goals in 42 games, including the opening goal in the 2002 League Cup final win over Ayr United.[7]

Sunderland

He was sold to Sunderland on transfer deadline day at the beginning of the 2002–03 season. Flo's arrival was announced alongside fellow striker Marcus Stewart, and the total cost of the transfers were declared as £10m. The individual prices were not made clear by Sunderland, although a figure of £8.2 million for Flo was widely quoted by the media.[8] Sunderland have since confirmed that he was bought for £6.75 million,[9] making him Sunderland's second most expensive purchase. Sunderland's manager Peter Reid had been under-fire throughout pre-season for his failure to buy a big-name striker as a long-term replacement for the ageing Niall Quinn. The relatively high price-tag for a player who was struggling in Scotland, and the late hour of his signing led many fans,[10] and pundits including former legend Jimmy Montgomery [11] to believe that Flo was a deadline-day panic buy. Once again he scored in his debut match, a 1–1 draw with Manchester United.

It was clear by Sunderland's tactics that Reid expected Flo to slot into the role of veteran Niall Quinn (who retired from playing in November) as a tall target-man for long-balls. It was not a role he was comfortable with, and he struggled to form a partnership with fellow striker Kevin Phillips. When Reid was sacked in October and replaced by Howard Wilkinson, Flo immediately fell out of favour – failing to make the bench for Wilkinson's first game – as Wilkinson publicly called into question the Norwegian's fitness.[12] Flo managed to work his way back into the first-team until Wilkinson's dismissal in March. His successor, Mick McCarthy failed to give Flo 90 minutes of football in any of the remaining nine games of the season.

In 33 appearances for Sunderland Flo scored only 6 goals (4 of them in the Premiership) completing only 11 of the 23 league games he started. Sunderland were relegated to Division One, and with massive debts were forced to sell or release most players on high wages. Flo played one League Cup game in the 2003–04, but in the autumn of 2003 he was given a free transfer.

Siena

Flo then tried his luck in Italy, joining newly promoted Serie A team Siena in 2003.[13] Flo played for Siena for two seasons, becoming a success in Italian football and helping the club establish themselves in the top division for the first time. He was ever-present and scored eight goals in 2003–04, he scored his first goal for his new club against Empoli in the third round of the league on 20 September. The next goal came against Reggina in the sixth round 18 October. Later becoming matchwinner in a 1–0 home win against Udinese. He scored five goals from 17 starts, and made 5 appearances as substitute in 2004–05. In his second and last season he scored the only goal in a historic 1–0 first ever victory against rivals Fiorentina. He put on another brilliant performance in November against eventual finalists Roma in a 2–1 Coppa Italia away win where he scored both of his teams goals. Another two goals came in a 1–3 away win against Chievo in January, he also scored the 2–1 goal in a 2–2 home tie against eventual Coppa Italia champions Inter Milan.

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Vålerenga

Flo signed for the ambitious club Vålerenga from Oslo in July 2005.[14] He was contracted to the club until the end of the 2006 season. His stay at Vålerenga was hampered by numerous injuries that prevented him of making a serious impact. Vålerenga did not offer him a new contract at the end of the season, leaving Flo free to sign with other clubs.

Leeds United

3 January 2007, former teammate Dennis Wise brought Flo back to England, this time for Leeds United, with a contract lasting till the end of the 2006–07 Championship season.[15] Flo made his away début as a substitute for the Yorkshire outfit in Leeds' 3–1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup.[16] A week later Flo scored his first goal for Leeds against the same opposition after three minutes with a towering header in a league match which ended in a 3–2 defeat.[17] Subsequent injury prevented Flo from playing any significant part during the rest of the season.[18] Flo was believed to be set to leave Leeds due to a clause in his contract,[19] but Leeds signed Flo with an initial one year contract to help their 2007–08 League One campaign. He only managed to score a disappointing 3 times in the League during the season, all in sub appearances.[20] Flo was sponsored by famous Leeds fans, the Kaiser Chiefs. Flo had previously admitted that Leeds would probably be his last club before retirement. He turned into somewhat of a fans favourite without playing that much for Leeds.[21]

In March 2008, Flo announced his retirement from football.[22][23]

Milton Keynes Dons

On 21 November 2008, Flo came out of retirement and signed for Milton Keynes Dons with a contract until the end of the season.[24] He played his first match for MK Dons coming on as a sub against Scunthorpe on 6 December 2008. He didn't start a match until the 3rd last game of the season against Walsall. Flo also had the misfortune of missing the ninth penalty in a tense shoot-out against Scunthorpe United which prevented the MK Dons from reaching the 2009 League one play-off final at Wembley.[25][26]

On 19 May 2009, Flo was released from his contract with the Milton Keynes Dons.[27]

Sogndal

Tore André Flo (right) and Ulrik Flo.

In 2011, two years after retirement, Flo surprisingly made a second comeback at newly promoted Sogndal. He first came on as a substitute against Rosenborg on 30 July. In his first start at the last day of the season he scored both goals in a 2–1 victory against league champions Molde, then coached by Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

International career

Flo made 76 appearances for the Norwegian national team and made his debut in a 0–0 draw with England. He scored 23 goals, making him Norway's joint-4th highest goalscorer, along with Ole Gunnar Solskjær.[28] He gained the nickname Flonaldo (an obvious pun on Ronaldo, one of the world's best strikers) when Norway beat Brazil 4–2 in a friendly match.[29] Flo played for Norway at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring a goal in a 2–1 win over holders Brazil as they reached the second round. Flo chose to retire from international football in 2004, deciding to prioritise his family.

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
. 6 September 1997 Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan  Azerbaijan 1–0 1–0 1998 WCQ

Personal life

Flo comes from a family of footballers, with seven members of his family having played in Tippeligaen.[30] His brother Jostein Flo and his cousin Håvard Flo have also played for a number of clubs abroad and been capped for Norway. The brothers Kjell Rune Flo and Jarle Flo have played in Tippeligaen for Molde and Sogndal, respectively. In addition have Kjell Rune's son Ulrik Flo and Håvard's nephew Per Egil Flo played for Sogndal in Tippeligaen.[1] Flo supports Birmingham City.[31]

Tore Andre Flo Academy

In June 2010, Flo joined up with local football coach Sean Faulkner to create his own football academy. The academy run sessions in various schools, clubs in various sports complexes, holiday camps and a centre of excellence aimed children from 5 to 17. The academy is mainly run within the Berkshire area but over the last few months has expanded outward to various counties, including Hampshire and Surrey. Flo has taken a hands on coaching approach with his academy and takes many coaching sessions himself passing on his years of professional experience to the younger generation of footballers.

Career statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Norway League Norwegian Cup League Cup Europe Total
1993 Sogndal First Division 22 16 3 5 - - 22 16
1994 Tippeligaen 22 5 3 3 - - 22 5
1995 Tromsø Tippeligaen 26 18 ? ? ? ? ? 4 ? ?
1996 Brann Tippeligaen 24 19 ? ? ? ? ? 2 ? ?
1997 16 9 - - - 16 9
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
1997–98 Chelsea Premier League 34 11 1 0 4 2 5 2 44 15
1998–99 30 10 3 0 3 1 9 2 45 13
1999–00 34 10 6 1 1 0 16 8 57 19
2000–01 14 3 0 0 1 0 2 0 17 3
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
2000–01 Rangers Premier League 19 11 2 2 1 0 0 0 22 13
2001–02 30 18 3 2 2 1 7 1 42 22
2002–03 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2002–03 Sunderland Premier League 29 4 2 0 1 2 0 0 32 6
2003–04 First Division 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 1 0
Italy League Coppa Italia League Cup Europe Total
2003–04 Siena Serie A 33 8 - - - 33 8
2004–05 30 5 1 2 - - 31 7
Norway League Norwegian Cup League Cup Europe Total
2005 Vålerenga Tippeligaen 8 0 - - - 8 0
2006 16 4 - - - 16 4
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2006–07 Leeds United Championship 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
2007–08 League One 22 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 22 3
2008–09 Milton Keynes Dons League One 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0
Norway League Norwegian Cup League Cup Europe Total
2011 Sogndal Tippeligaen 9 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 2
2012 Tippeligaen 13 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 14 0
Total Norway 142 71 6 8 4 2 ? 6 ? ?
England 201 43 14 1 10 5 32 12 254 61
Scotland 68 34 5 4 3 1 7 1 83 40
Italy 63 13 - - - 63 13
Career total 467 160 24 13 13 6 39 13 543 192

Playing Honours

Brann

Chelsea

Rangers

Leeds

References

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External links

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