Official: Swedish World Cup star joins Victory

Melbourne Victory has completed the signing of Swedish striker Ola Toivonen for the next two Hyundai A-League seasons.

Just a month after landing Japanese legend Keisuke Honda to a marquee deal, Victory have added the powerful attacker, who started all five games for Sweden at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

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Toivonen scored 14 goals in 64 caps for Sweden – including against Germany at the World Cup – calling time on his international career after his nation’s quarter-final exit against England. 

He has proven to be an accomplished striker at both club and international level, starting his career in his homeland before enjoying a number of seasons at Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.

Toivonen spent five years at the Dutch Eredivisie club, scoring an impressive 78 goals and laying on 32 assists in 199 games across all competitions, before making the move to France with Ligue 1 sides Rennes and Toulouse.

The 32-year-old also spent a season in the English Premier League with Sunderland in 2015.

Speaking about what is a major coup for the club, Victory boss Kevin Muscat was delighted to add a player of Toivonen’s quality to replace departed striker Besart Berisha.

“Ola brings proven quality to our attack and he will play a big role in leading our forward line this season,” Muscat said.

“He is exactly the kind of player we wanted to recruit, he is an accomplished striker so I’m delighted he’s decided to come to Melbourne.

“We still have one visa spot available and we’re working hard to add even more quality to our ranks.”

Toivonen is set to link up with the club in the middle of September to begin training, ahead of the club’s opening game of the new Hyundai A-League season against neighbours Melbourne City.

He is Victory’s sixth key signing of the off-season, joining Honda, German defender Georg Niedermeier, Kiwi right-back Storm Roux,  left-back Corey Brown and returning defender Nick Ansell.

“I know Melbourne Victory is a big club in Australia, they won the Championship last year and they’re playing in the Champions League,” Toivonen said.

“If you go on an adventure, you want the possibility of winning, you want to win something.

“With the squad that has been assembled, including Keisuke [Honda], Georg [Niedermeier] and myself, I think we can do some good things this year.”