From the town of Stryn in the Sogn and Fjordane district on the west coast of Norway, synonymous with summer skiing more so than football, Tore André Flo was preceded by his brother Jostein and cousin, Håvard. Jostein is best known for his time at Sheffield Wednesday (1993-6) in England after beginning his career for Sogndal; he returned to Norway in 1996 for Stromsgodset for whom he has represented thereafter. Håvard similarly began playing for Sogndal, eventually arriving in England with Wolverhampton Wanderers following two seasons in the Bundesliga with Werderbremen. However, at Wolves he was beset by injury, which led to them releasing him from his contract in 2001. This enabled Håvard to return to the Norwegian Tippeligaen, returning also to Sogndal.

Tore André left Norway in mid-1997 after representing Sogndal, Tromsø and Brann where he was very successful, in particular Brann for whom he scored 28 goals in 40 matches over 18 months. In doing so, he attracted keen interest from England, primarily Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea; his reputation was further heightened by memorable performances for Brann in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup against PSV and Liverpool.

Flo eventually joined Chelsea, preferring London to Liverpool, and experienced immediately success. Upon replacing Mark Hughes against Coventry City on his debut, he scored within 5 minutes to add to his debut goals for each of his previous clubs: Sogndal, Tromsø and Brann (Norway). Despite experiencing continual success with Chelsea and on a personal level, scoring many crucial goals, his reputation became founded on the impact he made as a substitute, competing with Mark Hughes, Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola, Sutton and then Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink during his time at Chelsea.

Regardless, he was at the forefront of Chelsea's European exploits, scoring both goals against Real Betis in Chelsea's 1998/99 Cup Winners Cup 4th round match in Spain and then in London against Mallorca in a semi final tie they eventually lost 2-1 on aggregate. However, the 1999/00 season was arguably his most, scoring 19 goals in all competitions, just shy of Kerry Dixon's then-record 20 goals in a season in 1990; this record has well since been surpassed by Hasselbaink in his first year (30 goals) as well as the present season (27 currently) and Eidur Gudjohnsen (22). Nevertheless, Flo scored 8 goals in Chelsea's only ever Champions League campaign including 3 goals over both legs against each of Feyenoord and Barcelona. His goal in the Nou Camp took Chelsea to within 6 minutes of the semi final stage, after holding a 3-1 lead over Barcelona on the first leg at Stamford Bridge. The eventual 5-1 result in Barcelona was a gross distortion of what was ultimately an anticlimactic conclusion to an intriguing match, more over an intriguing tie.

Despite his eternal patience, and repeated praise for his ability and excellent technique, he failed to command a regular place in Chelsea's Premier League team under Gianluca Vialli and Claudio Ranieri. As part of his acclimatisation, Ranieri routinely reassured team members of their places in the squad, confiding to Flo that he was a keen admirer of his style of play, and hence, played him from the beginning at Old Trafford in Ranieri's first match in charge. Flo scored two goals, single-handedly rescuing Chelsea from a 3-1 deficit to draw 3-3 against Man Utd. Unbeknown, it was his final starting appearance for Chelsea.

By 23 November 2001 he had reluctantly submitted a transfer request and moved to Rangers for whom he has been a permanent fixture in the starting lineup until recently. On the surface it would seem a win-win situation for all parties; Flo has scored 37 goals during his still brief stay in Scotland; Chelsea received a club record £12 million (also a record fee for a Norwegian player, surpassing John Carew's £7.5 million move to Valencia in 2000); Eidur Gudjohnsen has since flourished at Chelsea alongside Hasselbaink.

However, despite Flo's statistical success for Rangers, doubters persist, citing his significant transfer as a license to belittle his contribution to the team beyond his goals.

This is but a fraction of his career from Norway to Britain and quite probably in the foreseeable future, beyond.