Tore André Flo

Tore André Flo

Flo playing for Sogndal
Personal information
Full name	Tore André Flo
Date of birth	15 June 1973 (1973-06-15)
Place of birth	Flo, Stryn, Norway
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Sogndal
Number	24
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1993–1994	Sogndal	44	(21)
1994–1995	Tromsø	26	(18)
1996–1997	Brann	40	(28)
1997–2000	Chelsea	149	(50)
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–	Sogndal	9	(2)
Total		483	(180)
National team
1995–2004	Norway	76	(23)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Tore André Flo (born 15 June 1973) is a Norwegian football striker, who plays for the Norwegian club Sogndal. He initially retired after being released by the Milton Keynes Dons in 2009, but announced his comeback in March 2011. His brothers Jostein Flo and Jarle Flo, and cousin Håvard Flo are also professional footballers. Tore André Flo is from the village of Flo in the municipality of Stryn in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.

He was considered to be a free scoring striker, with excellent control and finishing abilities despite his large height. At points in his career, he was described as a 'super sub' due to his habit of scoring vital goals after coming off the bench.

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. 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, although it is rare that exploiting one's Bosman status in this manner raises controversy in more recent times^{[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 3rd, 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 2 goals in overtime). 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

Flo scored on his debut in a 5–1 thrashing of Rangers' arch rival Celtic, 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.

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. Sunderland have since confirmed that he was bought for £6.75 million, 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, and pundits including former legend Jimmy Montgomery 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. 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. 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 18th 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.

Vålerenga

Flo's wife and children found it difficult living in Southern Europe, and wanted him to return to the United Kingdom. Flo was close to signing for QPR, but decided to go back to Norway.

Flo signed for the ambitious club Vålerenga from Oslo in July 2005. 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, Leeds United confirmed their signing of Flo, with a contract lasting till the end of the 2006–07 Championship season. The contract had the option of extending further into the future. He will be paid £6,000 per week, with a £1,000 bonus for every goal scored. It was manager Dennis Wise that was one of the main influences of attracting Flo to Leeds United as they were once team mates at Chelsea. 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. A week later Flo scored his first goal for Leeds against the same opposition after 8 minutes with a towering header in a league match which ended in a 3–2 defeat. Subsequent injury prevented Flo from playing any significant part during the rest of the season. Flo was believed to be set to leave Leeds due to a clause in his contract, 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(2007–2008) all in sub appearances. 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.

11 March 2008, Flo announced his retirement from football.

Milton Keynes Dons

19 November 2008, MK News reported that Flo was in talks with Milton Keynes Dons over a possible comeback, which would reunite him with former Chelsea team-mate Roberto Di Matteo. This was confirmed by the club the following day, and on 21 November the club announced that Flo had signed a contract as a player until the end of the season. 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.

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

Sogndal

In 2011, two years after retirement, Flo 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 now coached by Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

Tore Andre Flo Academy

In June 2010 Tore 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, & Surrey. Tore 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.

http://www.toreandrefloacademy.com/

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. 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. 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.

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 Football 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	-		-		-		26	18
1996	Brann	Tippeligaen	24	19	-		-		-		24	19
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
Italy			League		Coppa Italia		League Cup		Europe		Total
2003–04	Siena	Serie A	33	8	-		-		-		33	8
2004–05			30	5	-		-		-		30	5
Norway			League		Norwegian Football 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 Football Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
2011	Sogndal	Tippeligaen	9	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	2
Total	Norway		140	71	6	8	-		-		146	79
	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			465	160	24	13	13	6	39	13	536	184

Playing Honours

Brann

• Tippeligaen: (Runner-Up): 1997

Chelsea

• FA Cup: 2000
• FA Charity Shield: 2000
• Football League Cup: 1998
• UEFA Super Cup: 1998
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1998

Rangers

• Scottish Cup: 2002
• Scottish League Cup: 2002

Leeds

• League One: (Play-Off Runners-Up): 2008

External links

• Tore André Flo player profile at mkdons.com
• Tore André Flo career stats at Soccerbase
• Soccerway profile