Zlatan Ibrahimović was born 3 October 1981. He is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club
Paris Saint-Germain and the Swedish national team for which he is captain. Ibrahimović started his career at Malmö FF in the late 1990s under Roland Andersson. Ibrahimovic was born to a Muslim father and a Catholic mother. Ibrahimović grew up in Rosengård, a Malmö neighbourhood known for its immigrant communities, along with his three sisters and two brothers. After receiving a pair of football boots, Ibrahimović began playing football at the age of six, alternating between local junior clubs Malmö BI and FBK Balkan. He has stated in an interview that while his team was down 4:0 during halftime, he came on as a substitute for his Balkan youth team and dramatically scored eight goals. While in his early teens, he was a regular for his hometown club Malmö FF. At the age of 15, Ibrahimović was close to quitting his football career, in favour of working at the docks in Malmö, but his manager convinced him to continue playing. Ibrahimović successfully completed junior high school in the ninth grade.
He was signed by Ajax, and made a name for himself under Ronald Koeman. He later signed with
Juventus for €16 million. Ibrahimović gained fame in Serie A, benefiting from his strike partnership with David Trezeguet. Ibrahimović was born in Sweden to a Bosnian father who emigrated to Sweden in 1977, Šefik Ibrahimović, and a Croatian mother, Jurka Gravić, who also emigrated to Sweden, where they first met. His father was born in Bijeljina, SFR Yugoslavia, and his mother was born in Prkos, Zadar County, SFR Yugoslavia.
Though he was admitted to Borgarskolan and had above average grades, he soon dropped out of high school to focus on his football career. Ibrahimović has two siblings and three half-siblings. His longtime partner is Helena Seger with whom he has two children, Maximilian, and Vincent. He currently resides in Paris, although he visits his summer home in Malmö annually. Ibrahimović received an honorary black belt in taekwondo; he attended classes at the Malmö Taekwondo club Enighet as a child. Ibrahimović is fluent in Swedish, Bosnian, English and Italian. He is of mixed Bosniak and Croatian descent. Ibrahimović has stated that he is a Catholic Christian.
The name Zlatan was trademarked in May 2003 at the Swedish Patent and Registration Office for "most likely being perceived as Zlatan Ibrahimović", which meant that he received exclusive rights to the name for certain products, including sporting goods, clothing, and shoes. He is under contract with Nike and features in their television advertising. He wears the Nike Mercurial boot line and has the names and dates of birth of his sons embedded onto the external sides of his boots.
In the fall of 2007, Ibrahimović, with the help of Nike, self-funded Zlatan Court in the streets of the city district Rosengård in his hometown Malmö: he provided a playing mat,goalposts, lighting, and a modern fence. In 2008, he donated new Nike kits to his youth club, FBK Balkan.
In December 2012, a French DJ, Al Pach, made a song tribute to Ibrahimović called “My Name is Zlatan”.
Ibrahimović signed his first contract with Malmö in 1996, and moved up to the senior side for the 1999 season of Allsvenskan, Sweden's top-flight league. That season, Malmö finished 13th in the league and were relegated to the second division, but returned to the top flight the next season. Arsène Wenger unsuccessfully tried to persuade Ibrahimović to join Arsenal, while Leo Beenhakker also expressed interest in the player after watching him in a training match against Norwegian side Moss FK.
On 22 March 2001, a deal between Ajax and Malmö regarding Ibrahimović's transfer to Amsterdam was announced, and in July, Ibrahimović officially joined Ajax for 80 million Swedish kronor. In 2006, he signed with league rival
Internazionale, where he won individual awards such as the Italian Oscar del Calcio and the Swedish Guldbollen, and was named in the 2007 and 2009 UEFA Team of the Year, in addition to finishing as the league's highest scorer in 2008–09 while winning three straight Scudetti. In the summer of 2009, he transferred to
Barcelona for €69 million, the second highest transfer fee in football history. His time at Barcelona was short lived, however, moving back to Serie A football with
Milan the following season, in a deal which made him one of the highest paid footballers in the world and cost the Italian club €24 million.
Ibrahimović received little playing time under manager Co Adriaanse, but when Adriaanse was sacked on 29 November 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 French champions Lyon in his Champions League debut on 17 September 2002.
He scored four Champions League goals overall as Ajax fell to Milan in the quarter-finals. In his final season with Ajax, Ibrahimović's profile rose when he scored a breathtaking goal against NAC on 22 August 2004, a goal that was eventually voted the “Goal of the Year” by Eurosport viewers. He netted only once in the 2003–04 Champions League as Ajax were eliminated in the group stage.
After Maxwell completed his transfer to Barcelona, president Joan Laporta confirmed that there was an agreement in principle between Barcelona and Internazionale for Ibrahimović to join the club in exchange for Samuel Eto'o, plus a fee. Laporta revealed that the negotiations started when he decided to divert a flight, which was originally from Ukraine to Spain, in order to have talks with Massimo Moratti, the president of Internazionale, in Milan. Ibrahimović left Internazionale during their United States summer tour in the World Football Challenge on 23 July 2009 for negotiations with Barcelona, with his last match for Internazionale being against Chelsea. Ibrahimović moved from Ajax to Juventus for €16 million. He was promptly inserted into the starting eleven due in part to top scorer David Trezeguet's injury problems, and scored sixteen goals. Near the end of the season, Juventus reportedly rejected a €70 million bid for him from
Real Madrid, which was later revealed to be a publicity stunt initiated by Ibrahimović's agent, Mino Raiola, in order to increase his market value. On 14 November 2005, he was awarded the Guldbollen, a prize awarded to the best Swedish footballer of the year.
Ibrahimović made his debut in a 0:0 friendly draw against the Faroe Islands at Tipshallen on 31 January 2001 during the 2000–01 Nordic Football Championship. On 7 October 2001, he made first competitive match in a 2002 World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan, scoring a goal in a 3:0 win. Ibrahimović was part of Sweden's 2002 FIFA World Cup finals squad who were eliminated in the round of 16 by newcomers Senegal. He made two substitute appearances, in the 88th minute of the final group game against Argentina and the 76th minute of the match against Senegal.
After Internazionale agreed terms with Eto'o and Barcelona with Ibrahimović, Barcelona announced Ibrahimović would arrive on 26 July 2009 and undergo a medical test on 27 July 2009. Ibrahimović passed his medical and was presented to a crowd of over 60,000 at Camp Nou. He signed a 5-year contract, for €46 million and the exchange of Eto'o and loan of Alexander Hleb, with a €250 million release clause, making Ibrahimović worth €66 million. However, Hleb deal collapsed. Eventually Ibrahimović cost Barcelona €69.884 million which including other fees. Inter book the fee was €69.5 million, but part of the Inter fee was redistributed to youth clubs as solidarity contribution.
On 28 August 2010, Milan announced on their official website that they had acquired the services of Ibrahimović for the 2010–11 season. He was loaned out to Milan for the 2010–11 season, with Milan having the option to purchase him outright from Barcelona for €24 million at the end of the season. He made his team debut in a 2:0 loss to Cesena on 11 September, in which he missed a penalty late in the match, and scored his first goals for the club when Milan defeated Auxerre in their first Champions League match of the season on 15 September. On 14 November, Ibrahimović scored the only goal in a 1:0 victory against his former club Internazionale in the Milan Derby.
On 20 November, he scored his seventh goal against Fiorentina in the 45th minute with an over-the-head bicycle kick, passing
Alexandre Pato as the team's top goal scorer for the season. On 4 December 2010, in a game against Brescia, he assisted Kevin Prince-Boateng to give Milan an early lead and then scored the third goal by a powerful shot near the edge of the penalty box to give Milan a 3:0 win. On 12 December 2010, history repeated himself in the game against Bologna after he assisted Boateng to give Milan an early lead once again and scoring later that match to make it 3:0, leading him to 13 goals with 8 assists in 21 matches in all competitions, after which he has been compared to Milan legend Marco van Basten by both the media and van Basten himself.
On 17 July 2012, Paris Saint-Germain confirmed that they had reached an agreement to acquire the sporting and economic rights of Ibrahimović from Milan, having already agreed personal terms with the striker, for an initial transfer fee of around €20 million, making Ibrahimović the most expensive footballer in combined transfer fees. Valued at €180 million, it eclipsed those commanded by Nicolas Anelka. His three-year contract would see him receive a net annual salary of €14 million including bonuses, and make him the second best paid footballer in the world behind Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o. The following day, Ibrahimović signed the contract and made the following statement during the press conference: “It is a big step in my career and another dream come true. I am very happy because it is a project that I want to be involved in. I want to be part of the history of the club. I am here to win and nothing else.”
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.” Once criticised for “his work-rate in the big matches”, 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. Ibrahimović is the only player to have scored for six different clubs in the Champions League.
