Tore André Flo

Tore André Flo (born 15 June 1973) is a Norwegian football striker, who is currently unattached after being released by the Milton Keynes Dons. 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 has participated in the Norwegian version of Dancing with the Stars, finishing second after Lene Alexandra Øien on November 2008.[citation needed].

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.

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. By the start of the 2000-01 season, Chelsea had signed strikers Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Eiður Guðjohnsen, again forcing Flo 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.