Sten Mellgren started playing football in 1917 with Råsunda IS. From 1920-24 he played with IFK Stockholm and from 1924-26 was with AIK. Mellgren was capped two times with the Swedish national football team. The first time occurred in 1923 against Hungary and the second time was during 1924 Olympics, where Mellgren played the first bronze medal match against Holland that ended in a draw, 1-1. The next day Sweden and Holland had a re-match that the Swedes won, but Mellgren, who had been injured the previous day, did not play.
Like many other Scandinavian football players of that era, Mellgren also played ice hockey and bandy in the winter and was called up for the Swedish 1924 Olympic ice hockey team, but did not see ice time in Chamonix. During his football career, Mellgren worked as an insurance agent and later worked as a journalist. He was the sports journalist with Idrottsbladet from 1925-27 and from 1928 until World War II he was a journalist and correspondent from Austria and Germany for Stockholmstidningen. During WWII he was the motor sport journalist with Dagens Nyheter and later worked as a chief editor of the Swedish Truck Association magazine Lastbilen. From 1940-45 he also worked as a spokesperson for the Swedish national gas company Statens Gengasnämnd. In his later years, Mellgren became a competent tennis player and golfer, winning many senior tennis tournaments in Sweden.
Sweden