50 Facts about Zlatan Ibrahimović

Zlatan Ibrahimović is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for French club Paris Saint-Germain and the Sweden national team for which he is captain. Here are 50 Facts about Zlatan Ibrahimović.

Arun Chandran

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1

Ibrahimovic first signed as a professional footballer with club “Malmo” in 1996 as a junior. He is currently the captain of Swedish national team and plays as a forward.
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Born on October 3, 1981, in Malmö, Sweden, Zlatan Ibrahimovic overcame a rough upbringing to become a professional soccer star. He played for clubs in Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain, nabbing multiple scoring titles while leading his teams to eight consecutive league championships.
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He has a burger named after him in a French café
4

Once, Zlatan’s agent and lawyer set up a meeting between him and two “Aftonbladet” jornalists (one of them was Robert Laul, the one who wrote about the bar incident), to set things straight and try to move on. Zlatan agreed to the meeting, but once the journalists got there he just started screaming at them, and kept on until they started talking back.
5

Following the 2000-01 season with Malmo, Ibrahimovic joined the Eredivisie runner-up Ajax for a fee of €8.7 million. He didn't seem to enjoy his first season with the Dutch giants, often finding himself in the Ajax dugout under the then Head Coach of Co Adriaanse.
6

Ibrahimović received an honorary black belt in taekwondo; he attended classes at the Malmö Taekwondo club Enighet as a child.
7

Ibrahimović silenced his critics by scoring and dominating in some of the biggest matches in football including the Milan Derby, the El Clásico and in ties from the Champions League and UEFA Euro against some of the strongest opponents in football.
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Ibrahimović was born in Sweden to a Bosnian Muslim father and a Croatian Catholic mother, who both emigrated to Sweden.
9

His first game in the line-up for Sweden, they played an Euro (04) qualifier against Hungary. If Sweden lost, it meant they were out of the tournament. Hungary scored after 5 minutes and the game kept getting more desperate, and the other players just couldn’t win the duels with goal keeper Gabor Kiraly.
10

With 24 appearances in his first season at the Amsterdam Arena, Ibrahimovic scored six goals. This remained as the lowest tally of goals, scored by the Swedish striker after having played for a minimum of 10 games for any club.
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He represented his club’s senior side in the all Swedish club league “Allsvenskan” in the year 1999.
12

On Feb 14, 2015 in a match against “S.M. Caen” on scoring a goal, he took off his shirt to reveal tattoo of 50 people names around the world, suffering of hunger. This act was in support of “U.N. Food Program.”
13

He is a great fan of Brazilian footballer “Ronaldo”. He idolized him as a teenager.
14

He and David Villa were teammates on F.C. Barcelona from 2010 to 2011.
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He was all set to move from “Malmo” club to “Arsenal FC”. But Ibrahimovic refused when Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insisted for trial.
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When he was 15 years old, he preferred to work in the docks of Malmo instead of playing football. He was persuaded against the idea by his coach.
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His contract with “Internzionale” was renewed in 2007, for another six seasons. He was the highest paid footballer of that time.
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He was also declared as, “Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year” for the season 2007-08. He won this award record 5 times, maximum by a player.
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He was the top scorer in 2008-09 “Serie A” season, with 25 goals from 38 matches. His club “Internzionale” won its 17 “Serie A” title.
20

On Feb 14, 2015 in a match against “S.M. Caen” on scoring a goal, he took off his shirt to reveal tattoo of 50 people names around the world, suffering of hunger. This act was in support of “U.N. Food Programm.”
21

On July 18, 2012 he signed a three years contract with French club “Paris Saint-Germain” for combined fee of €180 million. He was the second best paid footballer after Samuel Eto’o.
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Former French international Jean-Pierre Papin was of the opinion that, “we haven't had a goal scorer like him in France for a long time. He is on a different planet to anyone else”.
23

He featured in the 2007 all-time list of 50 hardest footballers by “The Times.” He is known for his powerful shot, acrobatic ability, agility, finishing and technique of scoring goal with both feet on dead ball situation.
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Ibrahimovic is “Sweden’s” top scorer with 56 goals in 105 internationals.
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He helped his club to 2012-13 “Ligue 1” championship, after a gap of 19 long years. He was the league’s top goal scorer with 30 goals. He was awarded “Player of the Year” by the French professional footballer (UNFP).
26

In March 2014, Sweden issued set of five postal stamps on Ibrahimovic.
27

He was once again in the wrong side of the law when he received red card for slapping Salcatore Aroniaca in a goalless draw against “Napoli.” He was further banned for three matches by the Sports judge Gianpaolo Tosel.
28

He featured in the 2007 all-time list of 50 hardest footballers by “The Times.” He is known for his powerful shot, acrobatic ability, agility, finishing and technique of scoring goal with both feet on dead ball situation.
29

His 2005-06 season as a striker was not fruitful. Although he was used as a midfielder to good effect, the “Juventus” fans were frustrated.
30

He taught himself to play ball on an old gravel pitch outside his mother’s house. After he turned pro it was completely remade, with rubber grounds sponsored by Nike.
31

He signed a four year deal with “Internzionale” worth €24.8 million in Aug 10, 2006. He was a big fan of inter in his youth.
32

During his childhood, Zlatan lived with his mother and step-father, though there was a lot of conflicts within the family. At one point the police did an investigation, that had at least partly to do with Zlatan’s situation.
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On Aug 11, 2014 Ibrahimovic paid US$ 51,000 to fund intellectually disabled Swedish national football team to “INAS World Football Championship in Brazil.”
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The soccer star released his autobiography, I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, in late 2011. The bestselling memoir detailed Ibrahimovic's rough childhood and his clashes with Guardiola and other players, and an English version was published in September 2013.
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According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ibrahimovic is worth $140 million. Forbes also reported that the player earned $40.4 million in 2014, making him the 12th highest paid athlete in the world for that year.
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In an interview to “The Guardian” he said, playing for “Barcelona” along with Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol, Pique, Dani Alves and Busquets was unbelievable. The level of play was from another planet.
37

Ibrahimovic made his professional debut for Malmö FF in 1999, and helped the second-division club make the leap to the first level the following season. The 6'5" striker then signed with the prominent Dutch club AFC Ajax and honed his formidable skills as part of two title-winning teams, though he also developed a reputation as a temperamental player.
38

He replaced injured David Trezeguet. In his first season with “Juventus,” made his presence felt with 16 goals in the season.
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Ibrahimović has been described as being "good in the air, strong and agile, he plays well with his back to goal and boasts some of the best finishing, vision, passing and ball control around."
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Ibrahimović is fluent in Swedish, Bosnian, English, Spanish and Italian.
41

By the end of 2004 season, there was news of Ibrahimovic’s transfer to “Real Madrid” for €70 million. It turned out to be his agent “Mino Raiola’s” idea to inflate Ibrahimovic’s market.
42

On Nov 14, 2005 Ibrahimovic was awarded with Swedish Award “Guldbollen”, for being the best male Swedish footballer of the year.
43

After receiving a pair of football boots, Ibrahimović began playing football at the age of six.
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His goal against “NCA Breda” on August 22, 2004, in the Dutch league was voted by the viewers as “Goal of the Year”.
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He is considered one of the most talented footballers of his generation. In 2012, he was ranked 5th in The Guardian's 100 Best Footballers in the world.
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On August 18, 2004, playing for “Sweden” against “Netherland,” he was accused of injuring Rafael van der Vaart, his club mate on purpose. He was sold to “Juventus” by the end the month for €16 million.
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In Ajax he blossomed under Coach Ronald Koeman and made his debut in champions League on September 17, 2002. He was instrumental in “Ajax” reaching quarter finals.
48

Ibrahimović started his career at Malmö FF in the late 1990s under Roland Andersson.
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One of soccer's most polarizing figures, the striker trademarked "Zlatan" and "Zlatan Ibrahimovic" in 2003, establishing exclusive naming rights for sporting apparel and other products throughout the European Union.
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Ibrahimović is the only player to have scored for six different clubs in the Champions League.