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Unique, admired and often controversial, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has split opinion throughout his career
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Ibrahimovic is one of the best strikers of this century, however, and has represented many of the world’s biggest clubs
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Read below for more on the Swede’s career to date
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has featured in online betting markets all over the world. Starting out with Malmö FF, Ibrahimovic developed his reputation in the Netherlands and Italy before stints in Spain, France, England and the USA.
While consistently among the best strikers on the planet, Ibrahimovic has been a representation of a new era of sporting megastar.
He’s dived head first into making himself a brand with cringe-inducing social media posts and over-the-top quotes. Ibrahimovic the footballer and celebrity is a character as much as an athlete.
While not the easiest player to manage, Ibrahimovic has been a force to be reckoned with in football betting. He has elevated his teams, tormented centre-backs and produced some moments of jaw-dropping magic (just ask Ryan Shawcross about that).
Net Worth
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s net worth is around the £150 million mark. Ibrahimovic has played over two decades at the top of European football, becoming one of the most recognisable faces in the world’s most popular sport.
He’s among the Champions League top scorers, and was a long-time contender for individual honours.
Salaries were inevitably lofty at the Milan clubs, PSG, Juventus, Barcelona, LA Galaxy and Manchester United. On top of his playing earnings, though, Ibrahimovic pocketed plenty from endorsement deals.
He was a key figure in Nike’s marketing campaigns up until 2014 when he made a brief switch to Adidas. The partnership with the three stripes didn’t last long – Ibra returned to Nike soon after and works with them to this day.
Alongside the sportswear income, he has also been involved with Volvo, Nivea, Vitamin Well, Samsung and Xbox.
Salary
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s salary at AC Milan for 2021-22 is believed to be just under £6 million. While this is an enormous number to most people, it represents a marked decline from his peak years when he was among the highest-paid players in the world.
In fact, even when he became one of the most famous MLS players at LA Galaxy, Ibrahimovic was receiving an enormous salary despite being several seasons away from his best performances.
To give some comparison for Premier League fans, there are 65 Premier League players earning more than £6 million per year in 2021-22.
The majority of these players are at the traditional big six, of course, but others are slightly more surprising like Christian Benteke, Danny Ings and Kasper Schmeichel.
Clubs Played For
Having featured for numerous former European champions, it’s a bit of a surprise to consider Ibrahimovic as one of the best players to never win the Champions League.
Through misfortune and poor timing rather than his own doing, Ibrahimovic is yet to hold the big-eared trophy aloft, but he’s collected his fair share of other silverware.
His performances at Malmo around the turn of the century caught the attention of Ajax. Made a starter by Ronald Koeman, Ibrahimovic starred in the Champions League and led the Dutch giants to the Eredivisie title.
Just a couple of years later, Juventus coughed up €16 million for his services. While his game developed further in Turin, Calciopoli brought an early end to his time at the club, and he joined Inter for €24.8 million.
Team and individual success continued for the charismatic Swede. Another big move was on the horizon, though, as Inter and Barcelona swapped Ibrahimovic and Samuel Eto’o, with the Catalan club also sending around £50 million to San Siro.
Ultimately, it didn’t work out at Camp Nou. Ibrahimovic spent just one season at Barcelona. He was initially loaned back to Italy with AC Milan, a move that became permanent 12 months later.
Once again proving he was among the elite at his position, the nouveau riche of PSG acquired Ibrahimovic and made him the second-highest paid player in the world behind Eto’o.
PSG’s new-look squad dominated French football with Ibrahimovic as its leading man. Success in the Champions League eluded the Parisians, however, and he eventually left as a free agent to join Manchester United.
A strong first season led to an extra year on his contract, but a serious knee injury towards the end of his debut campaign at Old Trafford saw a disrupted second season.
With United in a lengthy period of transition, Ibrahimovic made the move to MLS with the LA Galaxy in 2018.
As expected, he was simply too good for the competition in America. After two All-Star selections and two inclusions in the league’s Best XI, he begun yet another stint in Serie A with AC Milan in 2020.
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Malmö FF 1999-2001 – 47 appearances, 18 goals
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Ajax 2001-04 – 110 appearances, 48 goals
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Juventus 2004-06 – 92 appearances, 26 goals
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Inter 2006-09 – 117 appearances, 66 goals
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Barcelona 2009-11 – 46 appearances, 22 goals
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Milan (loan) 2010-11 – 41 appearances, 21 goals
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Milan 2011-12 – 44 appearances, 35 goals
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PSG 2012-16 – 180 appearances, 156 goals
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Manchester United 2016-18 – 53 appearances, 29 goals
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LA Galaxy 2018-19 – 58 appearances, 53 goals
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Milan 2020-present – 66 appearances, 36 goals
Family
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s wife is Helena Serger. The couple have two children together, Maximilian and Vincent.
Ibrahimovic gives a granite-hard image to the public, but there are occasional insights into his family life. The most famous recent example of this was in March 2021 when Ibrahimovic broke down in tears after a question about his children.
Asked what he said to his sons about his comeback, the Sweden international was visibly emotional, and replied by saying, “That’s not a good question you’re asking. I had Vincent here who really cried when I left him. But not it’s okay.”
Honours
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Eredivisie – 2001-02, 2003-04
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Serie A – 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2010-11
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La Liga – 2009-10
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Ligue 1 – 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16
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Europa League – 2016-17
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Puskas Award – 2013
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FIFPro World XI – 2013
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UEFA Team of the Year – 2007, 2009, 2013, 2014
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ESM Team of the Year – 2006-07, 2007-08, 2012-13, 2013-14
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Serie A Footballer of the Year – 2007-08, 2008-09, 2010-11
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Ligue 1 Player of the Year – 2012-13, 2013-14, 2015-16
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MLS All-Star – 2018, 2019
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MLS Best XI – 2018, 2019
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Guldbollen – 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020
Records
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Only player to score for six different teams in the Champions League
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Only player to score on his debuts in the Champions League, Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1
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Only player to have won 11 titles across four leagues
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One of three players to score in four different decades
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Most goals in a Ligue 1 season (2015-16)
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Most goals in an MLS regular season (30)
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Sweden’s all-time leading men’s scorer (62)
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Most Guldbollen awards (12)
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 15th March 2022
