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 the Sweden national team and Italian club A.C. Milan in the 1950s.
The three forwards led Sweden to Olympic gold at the 1948 Olympic tournament in London. Shortly after that success, in January 1949, centre-forward Nordahl joined Milan, and was accompanied by Gren and Liedholm in the summer of the same year. [1]
The impact of the trio was immediate. Nordahl scored 16 goals in 15 matches in the second half of the 1948–49 season, and in the 1949-50 season Milan scored 118 goals in 38 matches (a record in 20-teams Serie A seasons). The trio's most notable achievement at the club came the following season, when Milan won the scudetto ; their first was won 44 years previously. Others have won the title: 1955 (Liedholm and Nordahl); 1957 and 1958 (Liedholm but Gren and Nordahl had moved away). [2] Gunnar Nordahl was particularly successful in Italy, as he was the overall top-scorer in five out of seven Serie A seasons, between 1949 and 1956. He remains, as of 2023, the third-highest goalscorer in the history of the league, and the all time top-scorer in Milan history. The trio's contribution was fundamental also in achieving two Latin Cups, in 1951 and 1956, the latter won without Gren, who had left the club in 1953. Nordahl left Milan in 1956 to join Roma, while Liedholm stayed with the club as a leader in the midfield and being the captain from 1956 to 1961, when he retired from football.
Nils Gunnar Nordahl 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, in which he won the scudetto twice, and also the title of pluricapocannoniere, with an unprecedented five top scorer (capocannonieri) awards, more than any other player in the history of the Italian championship.
Johan Gunnar Gren was a Swedish professional football player and coach. He is best remembered for playing for IFK Göteborg and A.C. Milan.
Antonio Valentín Angelillo was an Italian Argentine football forward who played the majority of his professional career in the Italian Serie A; he was a member of both the Argentine and the Italy national teams.
Nils Erik Liedholm was a Swedish football midfielder and coach. Il Barone, as he is affectionately known in Italy, was renowned for being part of the Swedish "Gre-No-Li" trio of strikers along with Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordahl at A.C. Milan and the Sweden national team, with which he achieved notable success throughout his career.
Juan Alberto "Pepe" Schiaffino Villalba was an Uruguayan football player who played as an attacking midfielder or forward. A highly skilful and creative playmaker, at club level, he played for Peñarol in Uruguay, and for AC Milan, and Roma in Italy. At international level, he won the 1950 FIFA World Cup with the Uruguay national team, and also took part at the 1954 FIFA World Cup; he later also represented the Italy national football team.
George Sidney Raynor was an English professional footballer and one of the most successful international football managers ever. One of his greatest achievements was taking the Sweden men's national football team to a World Cup final, and he also managed them to an Olympic gold medal. Before the 1966 FIFA World Cup, he was the only Englishman to take a national team to a final of a World Cup.
Željko Čajkovski was a Croatian football player and coach, who played as a forward. He was born in Zagreb, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
The football tournament of the 1948 Summer Olympics was won by Sweden. This remains Sweden's only international title at a senior male football level and was the first international appearance of the trio that would later be known as Gre-No-Li dominating the Italian league at A.C. Milan in the 1950s.
This is the history of Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan, an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy.
The 1946–47 season in Swedish football, starting August 1946 and ending July 1947:
The 1947–48 season in Swedish football, starting August 1947 and ending July 1948:
The capocannoniere award, known as Paolo Rossi Award since 2021, is awarded by the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC) to the highest goalscorer of each season in Italy's Serie A from the 2010–11 season, when it was called the AIC Award to the Top Scorer. The award is currently held by Lautaro Martínez, who scored 24 goals for Internazionale in the 2023–24 season.
Thomas Gunnar Nordahl is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is also a former manager.
Bengt Olov Emanuel "Julle" Gustavsson was a Swedish professional footballer and manager. As player he played as a defender and represented Sweden; he participated in the final of the 1958 FIFA World Cup on home soil, losing out to Brazil, and won national championships with IFK Norrköping. As coach he led Åtvidabergs FF into its golden era at the beginning of the 1970s.
During 1956–57 season Associazione Calcio Milan competed in Serie A and Latin Cup.
During the 1949–50 season Associazione Calcio Milan competed in Serie A.
During the 1952–53 season Associazione Calcio Milan competed in Serie A and Latin Cup.