A statue of Gren, considered to be one of Sweden’s best players of all time, has stood outside the arena Gamla Ullevi in Gothenburg since 2006.

But on Wednesday night the statue was tumbled over, and the football player’s bronze football is nowhere to be found.

The main suspects are rowdy students, who were celebrating their graduation from secondary school (gymnasium) at the arena’s nearby restaurant.

In an interview with newspaper Göteborgs-Tidningen, Gamla Ullevi’s manager Jonas Georgsson pleaded with the thieves to return the ball, so the statue can be repaired.

“We really would like to have the ball back,” he says. “I don’t understand who would want to have a bronze ball.”

Gunnar Gren, active as a football player from the 1930’s to the late fifties, formed part of the well-known Gre-No-Li trio of forwards at Italian football club A.C. Milan, and also played for the Swedish national team for many years.

He won several awards during his career, including an Olympic Gold in 1948.

Wednesday night’s overthrowing isn’t the first time Gren’s statue has got into trouble. In December 2009, it was run over by a snow plough.