Du gamla du fria zlatan ibrahimovic biography

Swedish footballer (born 1981)

"Ibrahimović" redirects here. For the surname, see Ibrahimović (surname).

Zlatan Ibrahimović (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. Ibrahimović is known for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, technique, ball control, and physical dominance. He is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time and is one of the most decorated footballers in the world, having won 34 trophies in his career. He scored over 570 career goals, including more than 500 club goals, and scored in four consecutive decades between the 1990s and the 2020s.

Ibrahimović began his career at Malmö FF in 1999, and signed for Ajax two years later, where he won two Eredivisie titles and gained a reputation as one of the most promising forwards in Europe. He departed three years later to sign for Juventus before joining domestic rivals Inter Milan in 2006. At Inter Milan, he won three consecutive Serie A titles and his popularity experienced a significant increase. In the summer of 2009, he moved to Barcelona in one of the world's most expensive transfers. After just one season, he returned to Italy, signing for Inter's rivalAC Milan. With them, he won the Serie A title in his debut season. In 2012, Ibrahimović joined Paris Saint-Germain, leading them to their first Ligue 1 title in 19 years and soon establishing himself as a leading figure in their dominance of French football. During his four-season stay in France, he won four consecutive Ligue 1 titles, numerous domestic cups, was the top scorer in Ligue 1 for three seasons and became PSG's all-time leading goalscorer at the time. In 2016, he joined Manchester United on a free transfer, winning several trophies in his only full season with the club. Ibrahimović joined American club LA Galaxy in 2018 and rejoined Milan in 2020, winning his fifth Serie A title in 2022.

Ibrahimović is one of eleven players to have made 10

Tack, Zlatan.

Two words, in blue on a yellow background on a large screen.

On the large screen, pictures from many goals and other achievements during 22 years of service to the national team were displayed.

The phenomenal goal from almost no angle at all against Hungary in Budapest, the bicycle kick against Italy in EM 2004, the free kick against Denmark that took Sweden to EM 2016, the four goals against England and among them the incredible bicycle kick.

Goals, goals, goals.

For that was what, in the end, his outstanding career in all essentials was about. He broke Sven Rydell's goal record in the national team and he retired as the team's oldest player, against Belgium in the World Cup qualifier 2023, 41 years, five months, and 21 days old.

"Thanks for the show" was written on the banner as the supporter group "The Yellow Wall" unfolded.

The President of the Swedish Football Association, Fredrik Reinfeldt, presented a framed national team jersey and the General Secretary, Andrea Möllerberg, flowers. Old national team teammates and leaders lined up on one side along the blue mat.

Some familiar faces: Erik Hamrén, Lasse Lagerbäck, Daniel Majstorovic, Lasse Richt, Karl-Erik Nilsson, Håkan Sjöstrand, Marcus Allbäck, and Kim Källström.

On the other side, the current national team stood.

Then he came in, to the tune of his own version of "Du gamla, du fria" – and an enormous applause from nearly 50,000 spectators.

The 42-year-old also took the opportunity to send a greeting to the younger generation.

He concluded his speech with:

Whereupon he stepped off the stage and walked around the inner courtyard to meet the crowd's appreciation.

When Ibrahimović had composed himself after the farewell, he sent the following words:

"It feels very magical. I hadn't planned anything. I just wanted it to come from the heart and everything would be natural. The reception I got was emotional. It means a lot to me

Open the Swedish dictionary, flick to the letter Z and shortly after running your finger down the page, you will come across "zlatanera." The literal definition is "to Zlatan." Figuratively it means "to dominate" and, after originally being coined by a French satirical show, it was accepted for entry by the Swedish Language Council in 2012.

A couple of years later, the Swedish post office announced its own way of recognising Zlatan. It released a "zlamp," the special commemorative stamp celebrating his performance against England and the Puskas Award-winning bicycle kick he scored. Five million of them were pre-ordered; one imagines they were all first class.

Then last October, Zlatan picked up a Gold Record award. His own take on "Du Gamla, Du Fria" (the Swedish national anthem) had been streamed three million times in Sweden. "Rumour has it that it's the most streamed national anthem ever," posted Zlatan on Instagram.

To get a genuine appreciation of Zlatan's impact and influence, you have to localize. What makes him special and arguably sets him apart from fellow members of the League of Extraordinary Footballers, is that he has changed how a nation thinks about itself. Zlatan's motivation for putting his own spin on the national anthem was not completely egotistical. Aside from being "boring," he felt the original version didn't represent him, nor modern Sweden. "It hasn't clicked for me," he said to Dagens Industri. Zlatan's interpretation, by contrast, "is what Sweden looks like" today.

"I do not speak perfect Swedish, but that is how it is. Mixtures everywhere. We are all different, yet equal. My dad is from Bosnia and Muslim. My mother is Croatian and Catholic. But I was born in Sweden and am a Swedish citizen. You cannot change that."

When Zlatan was a boy he felt like he was "from Mars" and didn't fit in. He had a lisp and couldn't pronounce the letter "s." Rosengard, Sweden, where he grew up, was full of "Somalis, Turks, Yugos, P

A version of the Swedish national anthem sung by footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic has gone gold after being streamed more than 3 million times.

The Swedish striker, who plays for French side Paris St Germain, recorded a rendition of anthem ‘Du Gamla, Du Fria’ – translated as ‘Thou Ancient, Thou Free’ – for a Volvo car advert in 2014. It was produced by Britney Spears and Katy Perry hitmaker Max Martin.

Speaking to Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri at the time, Ibrahimovic described the “old” version of the anthem as “boring”, adding: “This new national anthem is exactly what we need… I hope this will become the new one”.

“This is what Sweden looks like in 2014,” he added. “I do not speak perfect Swedish, but that is how it is. Mixtures everywhere. I may be a Swedish anyway. We are all different, yet equal. My dad is from Bosnia and Muslim. My mother is Croatian and Catholic. But I was born in Sweden and am a Swedish citizen. You cannot change that.”

Ibrahimovic claims that the track is the most-streamed anthem in the world, although this has not been verified.

The original advert has been watched on Youtube over 5.5 million times globally.

Stream below.