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Zlatan Ibrahimović

Personal information

Full name: Zlatan Ibrahimović

Date of birth: October 3, 1981 (1981-10-03) (age 26)

Place of birth: Malmö, Sweden

Height 1.92 m (6 ft 3+1⁄2 in)

Playing position: Striker / Supporting striker

Club information

Current club: Inter Milan

Number: 8

Youth clubs

1991-1995: FBK Balkan

1995-1999: Malmö FF

Zlatan Ibrahimović is a Swedish football player of Bosnian-Croatian descent. He plays as a striker. He currently plays for Inter Milan, in Italy, and for the Sweden national football team.

Early life

Zlatan Ibrahimović was born in Sweden as the son of immigrants from former Yugoslavia. His father was born in Bijeljina (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and his mother was born in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. His parents met in Sweden and Zlatan grew up in Rosengård, a Malmö neighborhood known for its immigrant communities, where he also successfully completed junior high school (ninth grade). Although, thereafter admitted to Borgarskolan in Malmö, he soon discontinued high school in order to focus on his football career.[1] Ibrahimović began playing football at the age of ten. His initial local club was called FK Balkan, whose participants unsurprisingly were Bosnian and Somalian immigrants of the Rosengård neighborhood.[citation needed] In 1995 he joined Malmö FF.

Malmö

Ibrahimović started professional football with the Swedish club Malmö FF in the 1999 season (Allsvenskan, the Swedish top division, begins in spring, not in autumn like in Central and Southern Europe). During his stay at the club, Arsène Wenger tried to persuade him to join Arsenal but Malmö did not allow the transfer.

Other than Wenger, Leo Beenhakker also showed interest in Ibrahimović after observing him practicing in La Manga, Spain. Watching Ibrahimović score an amazing goal in a training game against Norwegian side Moss, Beenhakker became convinced of his talent. He went back to Amsterdam and on March 22, 2001, a deal between Ajax and Malmö regarding Zlatan's transfer to Amsterdam was announced and in July of the same year, he joined Ajax for record-breaking €7.8 million. The deal is by far the most lucrative any Swedish side has struck.

Ajax

Ibrahimović received little playing time under manager Co Adriaanse, but when Adriaanse was sacked on November 29, 2001, new coach Ronald Koeman inserted Ibrahimović into the starting lineup as Ajax won the 2001-02 Eredivisie title. The next season, Ibrahimović scored twice in a 2-1 victory over perennial French champions Olympique Lyonnais in his first career Champions League match on September 17, 2002. He scored four CL goals overall for Ajax, who were eliminated in the quarterfinals by A.C. Milan.

In his final season with Ajax, Ibrahimović netted a goal against NAC Breda on August 22, 2003 that was eventually voted the goal of the year by Eurosport viewers. He continued to flourish domestically, but also made headlines in a CL group stage match against Milan on September 16, when he was booked for tugging on the jersey of Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso as both were vying for the ball late in second-half injury time, after which Gattuso was sent off after backhanding Ibrahimović in the face. Ibrahimović scored his only European goal against Celta Vigo on October 22 as Ajax were eliminated in the group stage.

On August 18, 2004, Ibrahimović injured fellow Ajax teammate Rafael van der Vaart during an international match against the Netherlands, which led to accusations from van der Vaart that Ibrahimović had hurt him intentionally. This led to Ibrahimović's sudden sale to Juventus F.C. on August 31, 2004.

Juventus

Ibrahimović moved from Ajax to Juventus for a €19 million transfer fee. He quickly made it into the starting eleven. This was due in part to the fact that the team's top scorer, David Trézéguet was injured, in part to Zlatan being one of coach Fabio Capello's favorite players (Capello had tried to get him already at Roma), but mostly thanks to Ibrahimović's fine performances. He scored 16 goals, and this was in a league that is considered to be very hard for strikers to score in (especially for a foreign striker).

Near the end of the Serie A season Juve reportedly rejected a €70 million bid for him from Spanish power Real Madrid. This later proved to be nothing more than a PR stunt initiated by Ibrahimović's agent in order to raise his market value. Nonetheless, he was voted the player of the season in 2004-05 by the fans of Juventus. Zlatan was nominated to the 2005 FIFA world player of the year along with thirty other top players and finished as number eight. On November 14, 2005, he was awarded Guldbollen, a prize given to the best Swedish footballer of the year.

The following season was a more turbulent one for Ibrahimović. He had always had problems with Swedish journalists and these problems mounted as his success grew. During autumn, Ibrahimović's role in Juventus attack changed, and he became less of a goalscorer. He moved more and more to the sidelines, taking much part in the build-up play, especially as a target player, a role for which he was suited considering his exceptional physical strength. He thus started to make more assists than goals.

Even though he played well, arguably the best football he had produced so far, criticism against the lack of goals started to increase. And in spring, when Ibrahimović lost most of his fine form in the game outside the penalty area as well, criticism rose to a thunderstorm, both in Italy, where fans and journalists preferred Juve icon Alessandro del Piero, often sidelined for Ibrahimović's benefit, and in Sweden. Even so, he retained his place in the starting eleven and Juventus eventually won the Serie A again. Ibrahimović was also considered arrogant and troublesome, especially in Sweden where these feelings were strengthened due to several incidents between Zlatan and Swedish media.

In mid 2006, Juventus and Ibrahimović lost the league titles of the two previous seasons, due to the Serie A scandal: Juventus were also relegated to Serie B. The new staff tried to persuade Zlatan, and other top players, to stay with Juventus, but Ibrahimović and his agent were adamant to move. Mino Raiola even threatened legal action in order to extricate Ibrahimović from his contract.

Internazionale

Ibrahimović signed a four-year contract to Inter Milan for € 24.8 million on August 10, 2006.[2] He would go on to admit that Inter was a club he supported as a child, gaining him immediate popularity with the Inter supporters. He started his spell at the club with a good match against Fiorentina, assisting one goal and scoring another. After that he was somewhat inconsistent for a time, having notable troubles, along with the rest of the team, in the Champions League. However, after the spectacular 4-3 win in the derby against AC Milan everything worked out for Ibrahimović and Inter. They went on to a record seventeen wins in a row in Serie A en route to Inter's first scudetto on the field since 1989 (having won Juventus' 2006 title as fallout from the Serie A scandal), and Ibrahimović was coach Roberto Mancini's first choice in attack. Ibrahimović's performances have prompted Mancini and former Livorno striker Cristiano Lucarelli to compare him with the legend Marco van Basten. Towards the end of the 2006/7 season tension arose between Ibrahimović and the Inter hierarchy when he made comments about how Inter missed a Luciano Moggi type figure. This infuriated Inter and their fans as Moggi was the main culprit in the match fixing scandal and ran bitter rivals Juventus. Although later Ibrahimović claimed his words were taken out of context and the relationship between him and Inter has been repaired.

He scored twice in Inter's second Serie A game of the current season, against Empoli. On September 16 he played his 100th Serie A game. Ibrahimović scored two more goals in the 3-0 defeat of Sampdoria on September 26, scoring his 3rd Brace in 5 games, and then Ibrahimović scored 1 goal in the 4-1 win over A.S. Roma bringing his season tally to 7 goals in 6 games and shooting himself joint top of the scorer list with David Trezeguet. On October 2nd 2007 Zlatan gave his critics a double blow and scored two goals in the UEFA Champions League against PSV Eindhoven, scoring in Europe for the first time since December 2005, his first European goals in an Inter shirt. On November 7th 2007 Zlatan scored another brace, first a close range volley followed by a 25 yard strike against PFC CSKA Moscow when Inter battled back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 with help from an Esteban Cambiasso brace. On November 27th 2007 Zlatan kept up his european scoring form by scoring again against Fenerbahçe giving him 5 goals in 5 games in the UEFA Champions League so far, making him joint top scorer with Christiano Ronaldo. He has currently scored 14 goals and made 7 assists by starting in 18 competitive matches so far this season for Inter Milan.

National career

Ibrahimović made his debut in the Swedish national team in a goal-less friendly match against Faroe Islands January 31, 2001. The match only featured players from the Scandinavian Leagues. The first competitive game he played in for the national team was the World Cup qualifying game against Azerbaijan in October 7 the same year. Ibrahimović was included in Sweden's 2002 World Cup squad that managed to go through to the finals despite playing in the Group of Death against Argentina, England and Nigeria. He only played for 45 minutes but nearly made the telling contribution in Sweden's eventual Golden Goal defeat at the hands of Senegal.

Ibrahimović was a regular starter for Sweden in the campaign for Euro 2004, and after a fine season in Ajax (then sponsored by JC Walters) he was well prepared for Euro 2004 in Portugal. He joined a fine Swedish team featuring Celtic star Henrik Larsson and Arsenal winger Fredrik Ljungberg. Ibrahimović did well, scoring a penalty goal against Bulgaria and rounding off a fine performance against the solid defense of Italy by scoring an amazing late equaliser. He jumped up in the air with his back to goal and kicked the ball one-and-a-half meters above the ground with his back heel into Buffon's top corner. Ibrahimović is well known for his agility and his ability to score goals with his feet high up in the air, and perhaps this stems from the fact that he practiced tae kwon do as a youth.[citation needed] The tournament ended, though, with Sweden losing to Holland on penalties in the quarterfinals. Zlatan was one of the Swedes who missed a penalty.

Ibrahimović contributed heavily to Sweden's successful attempt to qualify to the 2006 World Cup. Both Sweden and Ibrahimović were thought to under-achieve in the tournament, though. He was substituted at half time in one game, against Paraguay, and did not participate in another, against England, due to a groin injury. How much his performances in the other games were affected by this is hard to know. Sweden was knocked out in the 2nd round by Germany.

Not long after his awaited transfer to Inter, Ibrahimović was called up to the Sweden squad to face Liechtenstein in the European Championship Qualifiers. While the squad was gathered at the players hotel, Zlatan and his teammates Christian Wilhelmsson and Olof Mellberg decided to break the squad curfew by going out to a nearby nightclub. Notable is that none of the players stated above had anything to drink. The coaches of the national team, Lars Lagerbäck and Roland Andersson, decided that the three players should be sent home. Thus, they did not take part in the game against Liechtenstein.

Mellberg and Wilhelmsson grudgingly accepted the punishment, but Ibrahimović felt that it was unjust. Thus, he refused to take part in the following games against Iceland and Spain. Sweden went on to win these matches without Ibrahimović. He also refused to take part in a friendly match against Egypt on February 7, but it has been reported lately that Ibrahimović agreed to return to Swedish national team.[3] On March 28th, 2007, in a European Championship Qualifier game, Zlatan made his return. In the last match against Denmark Ibrahimović, responded to his critics, mesmerizing the audience with brilliant football, earning standing ovations as well as the Man of the Match award. On Monday, 12 November 2007, Zlatan was given the highly sought after Swedish Golden Ball as the 2007 Sweden Player of the Year.

Playing style

Ibrahimović is 192 cm tall and powerfully built, and thus physical strength is one of his greatest assets. Since his arrival in Italy, he has become even stronger, since coach Fabio Capello wanted a strong team. He is also well known for his dribbling ability and excellent ball control. Many announcers are fond of his playing style,[citation needed] but mostly his playing styles earned him the rank amongst the players.