6'1"   13st.1lb.                                                                                                                                                                                                 
b. Uddevalla (Sweden) 16 April 1968
 

Debut 9 August 1997 (29y 115d) Final Game 6 October 1998 (30y 188d)
First Goal 23 August 1997 Final Goal 31 March 1998
CAREER: Lunds BK;Malmo FF '87;Borussia Monchengladbach (Germany) Sep'91 (£750,000);AS Roma (Italy) Jun'96 (£2,875,000);Borussia Monchengladbach (Germany) Oct'96-May'97 (loan);Blackburn Rovers Jul'97-Jul'99 £2,000,000); Hamburg SV (Germany) Oct'98-May'99 (loan).
INTERNATIONALS  Sweden 57 + 3 apps 29 gls
’91 v Gre,Aut 2gls,Rus,Den 2gls.’92 v Nor,Pol,Yug 2gls,Pol 1gl,Hun(s),Fra(s),Den,Eng,Ger.’93 v Nor 1gl,Fin,Bul 1gl,Isr 1gl,Hun(s),Fra 1gl,Aut,Isr.’94 v Swi 1gl,Fra 1gl,Bul 1gl,Fin 2gls,Nig,Den,Nor,Rus,Cam 1gl,Rus 2gls,Sau 1gl,Rom,Bra.’95 v Ice,Swi 1gl,Hun 1gl,Tur,Ice,Bra.’96 v USA,Swi,Tur,NIr 1gl,Svk 1gl,SKo 1gl,Blr 1gl.’97 v Den,Lat 1gl,Aut,Sco,Fra,Sco,Pol,Est 1gl.’98 v Lit 1gl,Blr,Aut,Lat,Est.
HONOURS WC bronze (Sweden) ’94.Swe Ch (Malmo) ’88.Swe Cp win (Malmo) ’89.Ger Cp win (Borussia Monchengladbach) ’95.Swedish footballer of the Year ’93.
SQUAD NUMBER  10  Aug’97 - 14  Aug’98.
 

PL            13 + 13 apps  4 gls   - 7 wdn                                               18 ns
FAC           0 +   1  app                                                                           2 ns
FLC           2 apps            2 gls
UEFA        0 + 1 app                                                                               1 ns
Total      15 + 15 apps    6 gls    - 7 wdn  + 283m -95m et 41m    21 ns  ( 1gl as sub)
Sent off  1
Strike rate 261 mins
Biography Martin Dahlin, Boken. Patrick Ekwall. Widing Media, Laholm 1997
ISBN 91-630-5775-1

Dahlin's father, Nat Akins, was a drummer from Venezuela who played with the Edmundo Ross  Orchestra. On a trip to Sweden he met a Swedish  girl and  their son, Martin, was born in Uddevalla, 50 kms north of Gothenburg. Akins could not obtain work in Sweden and lost contact with his family. Martin's mother, Lisa, became a psychologist and married the man who gave Dahlin  his name by adoption. Starting his career in Lund, Dahlin  moved steadily  up the football ladder, so that by 1988 he was included in the national team that played Brazil as part of their Olympic preparations. A marvellously  free running striker with immense upper body strength that allowed him to ride challenges and shield  the ball he also had a rare eye for a goal chance. Consistency was not one of his qualities  and his elevation to the national side was delayed until 1991 by a sudden loss of form. Finally selected he had to handle  the pressure of being his country's first black player but he coped well and was part of the side  that reached the semi-finals of the European Championship in 1992 and the World Cup of 1994 where he was arguably  the best player on view. Reasoning  that the Swedish game was modelled  on the long ball found in England he moved to the Bundesliga  to develop a greater technical game and became a better all round player. Strangely he never prospered in Italy and was on the downswing of his career when Roy Hodgson  brought him to Ewood. Although there were occasional  reminders  of his illustrious past he never came to terms with English football, hampered by back trouble and hamstring strains  that frequently sidelined him. Loaned  out to Germany he found his back problems had  become chronic and he had to retire from the game. He subsequently became a football agent, a commentator for Swedish  television and launched his  own brand of clothes.