He has his roots in Bosnia. His parents were immigrants from former Yugoslavia. Though his parents met in Sweden, his father was born in Bijeljin and his mother was born in Tuzla. Zlatan was bought up in Rosengard. Zlatan started playing football at a very tender age of 8. He used to play for a local junior club, Malmo Anadolu B.I. He moved from Malmo Anadolu to FBK Balkan at the age of 10. Here majority of the participants were kids who were Bosnian and Somalian immigrants of his neighborhood. He had completed junior high school in the ninth grade, and was later admitted to a school named Borgarskolan. He soon stopped studying and dropped out of school to continue his career as a footballer.
He joined Malmo FF in the year 1995 and in the year 1999 he moved to their senior side of Allsvenskan, which was the then Sweden’s top-flight league. Arsene Wenger tried his level best to persuade Ibrahimovic to join Arsenal F.C. Unfortunately this transfer was not allowed by Malmo. AFC Ajax was also showing interest in Ibrahimovic after watching him score a fantastic goal in a training game. This goal was scored against the Norwegian side Moss F.K. However it was on 22nd March 2001 that a deal between Ajax and Malmo was officially announced. It was only in July that Ibrahimovic joined Ajax officially. He was signed at a price of € 7. 8 million, this was the highest transfer fee that was ever paid to any Swedish Club until then, for a transfer.
Ibrahimovic played under manager Co Adriaanse for a very short duration, as Adriaanse was sacked on 29th of November 2001. Ronald Koeman was the new coach of the team and he lined up Ibrahimovic in the starting line up. Ajax had then won the 2001-2002 Eredivisie title. The very next season was good for Ibrahimovic. He scored twice in a 2 -1 victory against the French Champions Olympique Lyonnais. This also happened to be his first match in his career in the Champions League. This was a historic moment and it occurred on 17th September 2002. He was held responsible for scoring four CL goals for Ajax, who were unfortunately eliminated in the quarterfinals by A.C. Milan. He scored his only European goal against Celta Vigo on 22nd of October, but however Ajax was eliminated in the group stage.
For a fee of € 19 million, he moved from Ajax to Juventus. He was quickly included in the starting 11. He scored 16 goals in that season. He won a lot of votes as the player of the season in 2004 – 05 and he finished eighth in the voting for 2005 FIFA World Player of the year. It was only on 14th November 2005, that he was awarded Guldbollen. This is an award that is given to the best Swedish footballer each year. The following season was not a very pleasant one for him. He was constantly under a microscope by the Italian fans and journalists. He scoring fewer goals was a major issue that was troubling a lot of people. But, however he managed to maintain his position in the top 11. There was a scandal that stripped Juventus. This scandal was called Calciopoli. Unfortunately they were relegated to Serie B. Best of Zlatan Created on: 5/19/2008 By: Mani18 Tags: Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Best of Zlatan, Juventus
On 10th August 2006, he signed a four year contract with Internazionale for € 24.8 million. He made a public announcement that Inter was his favorite club since childhood and this made him very popular with the Inter supporters. He scored a goal and assisted one more goal in the match against ACF Fiorentina. This was just the beginning he had a couple of other great goals lined up in other important matches. After showing his potential by scoring a few goals, he became the first choice of Coach Roberto Mancini in the attacking position. In the year 2006 – 2007 season there was a little tension between Ibrahimovic and the Inter hierarchy. But, with due time it also got solved.
16th of September 2007 would be marked as the red letter day by him and his fans as he played his 100th Series A match that day. Later he scored his second European goal in an Inter Jersey on 2nd October. However, it was his first goal in European league after 2005.
2000 – Malmo FF (26 – 12)
2000/2001 – Malmo FF (8 – 3)
2001/2002 – Ajax Amsterdam (12 -6)
2002/2003 – Ajax Amsterdam (21 – 13)
2003/2004 – Ajax Amsterdam (16 – 13)
2004/2005 – Juventus (31 – 16)
2004/2005 – Ajax Amsterdam (3 – 3)
2005/2006 – Juventus (29 - 7)
2006/2007 – Inter (25 - 15)
Honors with the Swedish National Team
FIFA World Cup in the years (2002, 2006)
European Championship in the year (2004)
Honors with Internazionale Football Club
Italian Super Cup in the year (2006)
Italian Series A in the year (2006 – 2007)
Honors with Juventus Football Club
Italian Series A in the years (2004 -05, 2005 – 06)
Honors with Ajax Amsterdam
Eredivisie champions in years 2001 -2002 and 2003 – 2004.
KNVB Cup in the year 2001 – 2002.
Personal honors:
Series A Foreign Footballer of the year – 2005
Guldbollen, during 2005 and 2007