Tore André Flo

Tore André Flo (born 15 June 1973) is a Norwegian professional football coach and a former striker who is the manager of 1. divisjon club Sogndal.

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.

When Sogndal was relegated from Tippeligaen in 1994, Flo was transferred to 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.

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.

Flo was bought for £300,000 by the English Premier League team Chelsea in the summer of 1997.

Flo made his debut for Chelsea against Coventry City, and scored in a 3–2 loss for his side.

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 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 (70 of which were as a substitute) and scored 50 goals.

In November 2000, Flo was sold to Scottish Premier League team Rangers, in a record £12 million deal (£ today), making Flo the most expensive Norwegian player ever at the time, Rangers' most expensive signing and the biggest transfer by any Scottish club.

Much was expected of Flo, and he started off well by scoring on his début in a 5–1 victory over Rangers' archrivals 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.

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 (£ today), 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 legend Jimmy Montgomery to believe that Flo was a deadline-day panic buy.

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 as 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.

Flo started his career with his local amateur club Stryn.

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 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.