Starting off his career with Malmö FF, he is best remembered for his time with Benfica with which he won two league titles, reached two European Cup finals, and was the 1989–90 Primeira Liga top scorer.
A full international between 1984 and 1990, he won 30 caps for the Sweden national team and represented his country at the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
At the Lisbon club, where he arrived in 1987 as a replacement for fellow Scandinavian, Michael Manniche, Magnusson developed as a top flight goalscorer, winning two Primeira Liga championships and appearing at the European Cup finals in 1988 (lost to PSV Eindhoven in a penalty shoot-out)[1] and 1990 (losing to A.C.
[2] In 1989–90, even though they lost to FC Porto in the league, he finished as top scorer of the competition with 33 goals in 32 games;[3] during his time with Benfica he shared team with countrymen Jonas Thern (1989–92), Stefan Schwarz (1990–94) – also his teammates at Malmö – and coach Sven-Göran Eriksson (1989–92).
Magnusson earned 30 caps for the Sweden national team, and played in the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals in Italy where he suffered an injury that made him miss nearly one year of football.