NOT EVERYBODY IN Sweden is a fan of football, but it’s safe to assume every Swede is familiar with Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
“There’s no person in this country who doesn’t know who Zlatan is. Without a doubt. You would have to be living under a rock for the last 20 years not to know who he is, regardless of whether you like football or not,” insists Johan Orrenius, editor of Swedish football magazine ‘Offside’.
They’re not accustomed to having players of Zlatan’s calibre and character in Sweden. In fact, when it comes to someone so unique, the 34-year-old striker would have distinguished himself in the way that he has over the last 15 years irrespective of where he was born.
Ibrahimovic doesn’t conform to traditional Swedish stereotypes either. A typical Swede is presumed to be modest, reticent and reserved. None of those adjectives could be used to describe the captain of Sweden’s national football team, who was born in Malmo in 1981 to a Bosnian father and a Croatian mother.
In that respect, he is representative of a changing, multi-cultural Sweden, where the younger generations — inspired, to a certain extent, by a remarkable footballer who has represented his country at senior level since 2001 — are redefining Swedish characteristics.
“Maybe it’s a bit of an old stereotype, talking about a typical Swede,” Johan Orrenius explains. “Sweden is a country that has been through a lot of changes over the last 20 years, with immigration and a lot of other things happening politically. It’s not the same country as it once was. If you go to Iceland or Finland, I’m sure they haven’t seen as much change as we have as a country.
“So it’s difficult these days to talk about a typical Swede, but if you did, you would probably talk about somebody who was humble, perhaps a little bit afraid to speak his mind, polite and doesn’t want to cause any fuss. In that way, Zlatan is certainly different.
“But in 2016, there are more and more examples of mini-Zlatans — in their personalities — in sport, music, arts and other areas; people who like to speak their minds and who are possibly influenced by Zlatan in that way too. He was certainly more of an odd figure when he broke through in 2001, compared to where he is today and where Sweden is today.”
According to Orrenius, Ibrahimovic is undoubtedly the country’s most recognisable face and the greatest footballer ever to wear the yellow shirt. And while there are plenty of Swedes in his corner, not everyone is a fan of the often controversial footballer.
“He’s more liked than disliked but, of course, there are divided opinions,” Orrenius says. “Zlatan is by far our most famous person — not just our most famous footballer or athlete. He’s our most famous person without any competition. And that’s not just because of his fantastic football skills, but mostly because of his very, very charismatic personality. Someone who has this personality will always create a lot of opinions that go both ways.
“There are many, many people — particularly young people — who have him as an idol or a role model, and maybe also a lot of them are people who are not very well off. He has become a symbol for them to say, ‘Hey, look what you can do when you believe in yourself’. But there are also, of course, a bunch of people who think he’s too arrogant, that he brags too much and he should be more humble.
“Recently he declared himself a legend at Paris Saint-Germain, which is not a very typically Swedish thing to do. Things like that will always generate comments that he is too full of himself. But people are also used to him now. He’s been like this since 2001 when he first became a big star in Sweden, so we’re not really surprised anymore and maybe the reactions aren’t as big when he says something like that.
“He creates a lot of headlines, sometimes positive, sometimes negative. There was an example last year with a national football team we have for disabled people. They couldn’t afford to go to their World Cup and when Zlatan heard about that he paid for their whole trip, like a personal sponsor. That is one really good thing he has done. But then the next week he can say something really stupid and disrespectful about women’s football. It differs from one week to another with him. You’re never sure what to expect.”
Sweden’s relationship with Ibrahimovic appears not to be dissimilar to Ireland’s take on Conor McGregor. While the elder populace struggle to warm to him, the level of adoration afforded to both sporting superstars increases as you descend the age brackets.
Orrenius: “That is probably true. Of course, you’ll occasionally find a young person who doesn’t like Zlatan and an older person who does, but that’s certainly true in most cases if you want to paint a broad picture. There are still some complaints that he’s not Swedish enough. He doesn’t sing the national anthem before kick-off and some people get upset about that — mostly probably people who are over 60-years-old and male.”
Ibrahimovic hasn’t been exempt from criticism in Sweden when it comes to his contributions on the field either. In spite of his remarkable abilities, he was often castigated for failing to produce his best performances for the national team.
On the club front, Ibrahimovic has represented some of the biggest teams in the world — Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Ajax and Paris Saint-Germain, winning league titles with each of them — but for a long time Swedes were unhappy that he didn’t deliver on the international stage to the same level he had been doing for his employers.
After violating a team curfew a couple of days before a European Championship qualifier against Liechtenstein in September 2006, Ibrahimovic was left out of the team for the game by manager Lars Lagerback. But he didn’t respond well to the punishment and refused to make himself available for their next two games — against Spain and Iceland.
Ibrahimovic returned for a game against Northern Ireland in March 2007 but he failed to score for the duration of the qualifying campaign. His international goal drought, which had lasted for over two years, eventually came to an end in Sweden’s Euro 2008 opener against Greece.
A turning point for his international career was the arrival of current manager Erik Hamren, who succeeded Lagerback in November 2009. But if Ibrahimovic finally began to fulfil his potential for Sweden, has it come at a cost?
“It’s strange because this discussion was going on as far back as 2006, I believe, when he also didn’t score a single goal at that World Cup. After that there were a lot of discussions about why he wasn’t playing as well for the national team as he was for Juventus and then Inter Milan, as it was at the time,” Orrenius says.
“But when Sweden changed the national team coach in 2009 from Lars Lagerback to Erik Hamren, the big question for Hamren was: ‘How will you be able to get more out of Zlatan?’ That was the main topic. And now we can say for certain that Zlatan, under Hamren, has performed better than ever for the national team. He has scored 40 goals in 52 games under Hamren, which is very, very good for Sweden because we’re not Brazil or Germany. We’re not a great national team so those numbers are good.
“However, at the same time, we have performed less well as a team during these last few years. We didn’t qualify for the last World Cup and, like Ireland, we didn’t do very well at the last Euros. There has been a lot of criticism of the team. So it’s a strange situation. Everyone wanted the coach to get more out of Zlatan, and he actually has, but the rest of the team hasn’t followed.
“The discussion now is kind of the opposite of what it was when Hamren took over. Zlatan has so much responsibility and so much freedom on the pitch, it’s maybe hard for the other players sometimes to match that. He’s such a star and our next best player is probably three levels down.
“It’s an odd situation sometimes with the national team because of that. You have this exceptional player who is the main man but the others then maybe don’t take as much responsibility as they should. Like Ireland, when Sweden has succeeded in the past, it has really been based on a team effort, team spirit and fighting the hell out of the opponents.
“Now we have a situation where we are not as good as a team but we have one player who is maybe the biggest star in the tournament, which is weird for us. It didn’t used to be like that.”
Turning 35 in October, Ibrahimovic is certainly in the twilight of his career but it’s likely that he still has plenty to offer — both on the international stage, where he’ll win his 114th cap tomorrow against the Republic of Ireland at Euro 2016, and at club level, where his next stop looks set to be Manchester United. But what will ultimately be the legacy of this truly gifted footballer, one of the greats of his generation?
“He’ll be remembered as our biggest player ever,” believes Johan Orrenius. “We’ve had good players in the past like Henrik Larsson and others before him, but Zlatan has scored all these goals and played for all these massive clubs.
“He will also be remembered as someone who followed his own path and as somebody who was a symbol that you can do things your own way and still be successful. By believing in yourself, you don’t have to be a stereotype just because you were born in a certain country.”
