Starting off his career with IFK Eskilstuna in the mid-1980s, he went on to play professionally in Sweden, Belgium, France, Italy, and Turkey before retiring in 2002.

At club level, he played for Tunafors SK (1976−1981), Eskilstuna (1982–88), Göteborg (1988–91), Mechelen (1991–92), Norrköping (1993), Lille (1993–94), Caen (1994–95), Bari (1995–96), Bologna (1996–99 and 1999–2000), Lazio (1999), Fenerbahçe (2000–02) and Gårda BK (2005).

He led the Swedish team in scoring with five goals in the 1994 World Cup,[2] a feat which tied him for third place as the tournament's leading goalscorer.

[3][4] A tall, athletic, and physically strong forward, who was also a prolific goalscorer, in spite of his lack of pace or notable technical skills, he was renowned for his work-rate, hold-up play with his back to goal, and in particular his excellent abilities in the air, which enabled him both to score goals with his head and get on the end of long balls to provide assists for his teammates from knock-downs; due to his playing style, he was frequently dubbed an "old-fashioned" centre-forward or "target-man" in the media throughout his career.

[4][5][6][7][8][9] BBC has described Andersson as "one of the world's greatest forwards in the air", adding that "his aerial ability is complemented by decent passing and unselfish support play that has allowed other strikers to flourish alongside him.