Swedish sportsmen look like having something special from the beginning of sport history. Sven Rydell is no different than that. If you check whom has the most hat-tricks from football history, this guy stands out a bit. I mean, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, he has the most hat-tricks scored for a national team, Sweden. Truth been said, Ronaldo has 10 and Sven nine, but his record was well and alive until 2021 when CR7 scored a treble against Luxembourg. And the record of Rydell was lasting since 1932! What you did in the last 89 years, by the way? 😀 OK, well, this is not the only big achievement Sven Rydell has.
First Cristiano Ronaldo, after… Ibrahimovic! In fact, the other way around
With 49 goals scored in 43 games for the Swedish national side, he was overpassed only in 2014, when not just anybody, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic, managed to go up to 50 international goals. So… then Ibra, now Cristiano Ronaldo. This guy could only have been beaten, as it appears by giants. And if you think his three hat-tricks against Norway or his solo three-in-a-match performances against Belgium or The Netherlands are not impressive, I will make a top of great all time Swedish football attackers that were held way behind by him. As I said, Sweden had always great sportsmen. And the footballers are no exception.
All time top Swedish top scorers for the national team:
| 1 | Zlatan Ibrahimović (list) | 62 | 120 | 0.52 | 2001–present |
| 2 | Sven Rydell | 49 | 43 | 1.14 | 1923–1932 |
| 3 | Gunnar Nordahl | 43 | 33 | 1.3 | 1942–1948 |
| 4 | Henrik Larsson | 37 | 106 | 0.35 | 1993–2009 |
| 5 | Gunnar Gren | 32 | 57 | 0.56 | 1940–1958 |
| 6 | Kennet Andersson | 31 | 83 | 0.37 | 1990–2000 |
| 7 | Marcus Allbäck | 30 | 74 | 0.41 | 1999–2008 |
| 8 | Martin Dahlin | 29 | 60 | 0.48 | 1991–1997 |
| 9 | Tomas Brolin | 27 | 47 | 0.57 | 1990–1995 |
| Agne Simonsson | 27 | 51 | 0.53 | 1957–1967 |
Ahead of Nordahl or Larsson, goals born in same days as Rapid Bucharest
What could we add more? Nordahl, Larsson, Kennet, Allbäck… Now, this gut lived and died long before I was born. But because in this period the hat-trick is something in trend, since Cristiano Ronaldo managed to do one against Tottenham Hotspur, I think the short story, based on clear facts, of Sven Rydell would be nice to been read. Ah, and to mention as a closing – even though it would have been, in a parallel, normal world at the beginning – his first of the 49 international goals was scored on 20th of June 1923 against Finland. Coincidence or not, the same adversary against which he scored his final goal(s).
Now, in exactly those days, Rapid Bucharest, one of the most special teams from Europe was also born. Should this be a sign? Of course, champions under the same temporal umbrella, no surprise.
Photo source: wikipedia.org