Scanian Hall of Fame

Zlatan Ibrahimović, born and raised in the Rosengård district of Malmö, is considered Sweden's greatest football player of all time. When Zlatan was five, he was given his first pair of football trainers, and when he was seven he started playing with the Malmö BI football club. He also played later with BK Flagg and FBK Balkan before being recruited to play with Malmö FF as a thirteen-year-old. He has been a member of Sweden's national football team since 2001 and is the team's all-time leading goal scorer. Zlatan's international football career includes the clubs Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and, currently, AC Milan.

Ernst-Hugo was born in Ystad in 1928. He was one of Sweden's best known and most beloved actors, and trained at the Malmö City Theatre's Acting School. During his career, he acted in some twenty films, some forty TV productions and a number of plays. Some of his most successful roles were in Waiting for Godot, Tartuffe and The Wild Duck. His first film appearance, in 1962, was in Raggargänget ('Swedish Punks'). Ernst-Hugo Järegård is also known as the blunt and rather special chief physician Stig Helmer in Lars von Trier's bizarre TV series The Kingdom.

Jason Diakité was born and raised in Lund. He is a popular Swedish hip hop artist and radio show host who has also gained acclaim for his stance against racism. Jason took his stage name from the city of Timbuktu in Mali, a country where his father's family has roots. Timbuktu's first solo record, "The Conspiracy", came out in 1999. His album The Botten Is Nådd, for which he won his first Swedish Grammis, was released in 2003–2004.

Ruben Rausing, born in the Scanian village of Råå in 1895, was a Swedish entrepreneur and founder of Tetra Pak. Tetra Pak is a family-owned company, started in 1951, which makes machinery and material for disposable containers for milk, juice and other liquid products. The company got its name from the tetrahedron-shaped milk carton it produced. In 1959 Ruben Rausing was awarded an honorary doctorate in economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.

Tina Nordström, known by many as "Mat-Tina" ['Food Tina'], is a Swedish chef and television presenter from Helsingborg. At the age of eight, Tina began working at the restaurant Ramlösa Wärdshus, which was run by her parents. She then took the restaurant programme in upper secondary school before working in various restaurants in Scania. In 2000 she took part in Sweden's Chef of the Year programme, which is when she had her real TV breakthrough. Tina has written several cookery books, including Tinas mat ('Tina's Food'), Tina and Jättegott Tina ('Really Good Tina').

Birgit Nilsson, a Scanian opera singer and global star, was born in 1918 in the parish of Västra Karup. She won international acclaim and performed on many of the world's great opera stages. Birgit Nilsson became court singer by special appointment to the Swedish King in 1954 and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1960. Three years after her death, it was revealed that she had set up a foundation for the Birgit Nilsson Prize, to be awarded to a singer, conductor or specific production in classical music. The prize money is one million US dollars, which makes the award the largest in the world of classical music.

Jill Johnson, born in Ängelholm, is a Swedish country singer and songwriter. She had her big breakthrough when she won the honour of representing Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998 with her song "Kärleken är" ['Love Is']. In 2014 Jill Johnson debuted with her cabaret performance "Jill" at the venue Hamburger Börs in Stockholm. Meanwhile, the television programme Jills veranda ['Jill's Veranda'] went on the air – recorded in Nashville with Jill as host and Swedish artists as guests. The programme quickly became popular, and in 2014 Jill Johnson won the Kristallen award in the category "Female television presenter of the year". She has also won a Swedish Grammis for "Schlager music/dance band of the year".

In 1993 Dan Olofsson purchased the technical consultancy operations of the company Sapia and formed the company Sigma. His social engagement can be seen, for example, in the organisation Star for Life, which involved 250,000 young people in a three-year preventive programme against HIV/AIDS in South Africa, Namibia and Sri Lanka. In 2011 Dan also took the initiative in forming Uppstart Malmö, a foundation aimed at creating more jobs in Malmö neighbourhoods that were part of the "One million homes" public housing programme.

Måns Zelmerlöw, from Lund, is a singer, songwriter, actor and television presenter. He is probably best known for winning the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest with his song "Heroes" and as the popular host of the singalong programme Allsång på Skansen. As a singer, he has performed on shows such as Idol, Let's Dance, Eurovision Song Contest and Så ska det låta. He has also hosted shows such as Sommarkrysset ['Summer Cruise'] and the Swedish round of the Eurovision Song Contest. Måns was named the 2011 Scanian of the Year and the 2012 Person from Lund of the Year by the local association Grandiosa Sällskapet.

Nour El Refai was born in Lebanon and raised in Lund. Her CV is impressive – she is, among other things, a stand-up comic, Swedish film and theatre actor and a lecturer. In 2012 she hosted the Swedish round of the Eurovision Song Contest together with her fellow comic Anders Jansson and in 2015 hosted the radio music programme Musikhjälpen on P3. Nour El Refai has also taken part in a number of comedy festivals and stand-up tours as well as TV comedy programmes such as Raw Comedy. She also appeared in the musical Grease at Göta Lejon in Stockholm.

Therese Sjögran is a successful Swedish football player who comes from Södra Sandby/Lund. In 2000 Therese signed a contract with the football club Malmö FF, where she played until 2011. After that, she has a one-year contract as a professional with the US club Sky Blue FC. In 2012, she returned to her Malmö club, now named LdB FC. Therese Sjögran has played in as many as 214 international matches and has won the Swedish Football Association's prestigious Diamantbollen prize on two occasions, in 2007 and 2010. Together with the Swedish national team, she won silver in the 2001 UEFA European championship, silver in the 2003 World Cup and bronze in the 2011 UEFA European championship.

Bodil Jönsson, born in Helsingborg, is a Swedish physicist, lecturer, writer and professor emerita. Since the 1990s, she has worked in Lund University's department for rehabilitation engineering research. Bodil Jönsson is known to the general public through the TV programme Fråga Lund ('Ask Lund'), where she answers questions about physics. She has also written the popular books Ten Thoughts about Time and När horisonten flyttar sig – att bli gammal i en ny tid ['When the horizon moves – growing old in a new era'].

Carolina Gynning was born in Helsingborg and raised in Falsterbo. She began her career as a model but is now best known as a television presenter, blogger, actor and artist. Art is now her main occupation, but she also designs jewellery and interior furnishings. As an actor, she was acclaimed for her role in the 2012 movie Blondie.