Zlatan Ibrahimovic Biography

Sebastian Henke

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of best strikers in the world and probably one of the best in soccer history. He has already played for several top clubs internationally. He is a seven times winner of Swedish player of the year!

Beginnings

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was born on October 3, 1981, in Malmö, Sweden. His parents are from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

His first soccer teams were Malmö, Anadolu BI, and FBK Balkan from his hometown. In 1995, he moved to Malmö's top club, Malmö FF.

He signed his first professional contract in 1999 and made his senior debut on September 20 1999, against Halmstads. He played 40 games and scored 16 goals for Malmö.

His performances caught the interest of many European teams. In July, 2001, "Ibra" (a nickname he picked up along the way) was transferred to Ajax Amsterdam in an $8 million move.

He won the national league title with Ajax in his first season. Due to several problems with teammates and team officials, Zlatan moved to Italy in 2004, even when Ajax won the national title again.

Juventus F.C.

Zlatan signed a contract with Italian club Juventus F.C. They paid about $23 million for him. He scored 16 goals in his debut season for Juventus and placed 8th at the World player of the year ceremony.

Due to the financial scandal in which Juventus was involved in 2006, Ibra moved to Italian rivals, Inter Milan. Juventus won the national title in 2005 and 2006, but but it was taken away from them because of the scandal.

Inter Milan

Inter Milan paid about $28 million for him, and he signed a four-year contract. Ibrahimovic played 88 games and scored 57 goals in his time at Inter. He also won two Italian national championships.

In 2007, he extended his contract and became the best paid soccer player in the world, earning about $15 million per year.

FC Barcelona

In 2009, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o switched teams. Barcelona paid an additional $55 million for Ibrahimovic. This made him the second most expensive player in the history of soccer behind Cristiano Ronaldo.

He played 29 games and scored 16 goals for Barcelona, but he never really fit in with Barcelona's team and coaching system. He had several public discussions with the team manager, Pep Guardiola, and decided to move back to Italy. He won the national league title with Barcelona, though.

AC Milan

Zlatan Ibrahimovic moved to AC Milan on loan first, before they finally bought him in 2011 for about $28 million. After two years in Italy, he left Milan to play for the French giants, Paris St. Germain, in 2012.