A centre forward, Ingvar Rydell was capped 14 times with the Swedish national team, scoring nine goals, and winning medals at two major international tournaments at the start of the 1950s. He won a bronze medal at the 1950 World Championships, where he participated in one match, the bronze medal match against Spain, which Sweden won. He then competed at the 1952 Olympics, where he played in four matches and scored three goals and again won a bronze medal. At the club level, Rydell started with Billingsfors IK before World War II and then joined Malmö FF in 1948. Malmö FF was the most dominant Swedish football club of that era and Rydell played with them until 1953, playing in 210 matches and scoring 162 goals. With Malmö, Rydell won Swedish titles in 1949-51 and 1953, while finishing as runner-up in 1948 and 1952 and winning Swedish Cups in 1951 and 1953. After leaving Malmö in 1953, Rydell finished his career again with Billingsfors IK. Outside of sports, Rydell worked in his family’s paper mill business.
Sweden