This striker needs no more introduction than his name: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Born October 3, 1981 in Malmö, Sweden from a Bosnian father and Croatian mother, Ibrahimovic made his professional debut in his hometown team: Malmö FF in 1999. He spent there 3 years before being sold to Dutch team Ajax, which is when this story begins.
After having little participation in his first year, “Ibracadabra” won his first league title: the 2001-2002 Eredivisie. Ajax also won the KNVB Cup (the Dutch domestic cup) and later conquered the Johan Cruyff Shield (Dutch Supercup). Zlatan would win his second Eredivisie title in the 2003-2004 season, being sold at the end of that season to Italian Serie A’s Juventus. Now in Italy, the Swedish striker would win 2 straight Scudettos, although they were later revoked due to the Calciopoli scandal, which led to Juventus’s demotion to the Serie B. This made Ibrahimovic change team, this time staying in Italy and going over to Milan to play with Internazionale. His winning streak would continue, clinching 3 straight league titles and 2 Italian Supercoppas, before being sold to Barcelona FC.
After a promising first half of the 2009-2010 season, Ibrahimovic stopped being used as much by his coach Pep Guardiola, which lead to many speculations about their relationship, leading to the Swedish’s exit from Barcelona the next season, after winning the Liga trophy, the 2009 Club World Cup and UEFA Supercup, and also 2 Spanish Supercups. He was loaned to AC Milan, returning to Italy to win the Scudetto once more in the 2010-2011 season. Milan bought Ibrahimovic from Barcelona, later winning the Italian Supercoppa. After a 2011-2012 without any more titles, french Ligue 1 team Paris Saint-Germain bid for both brazilian defender Thiago Silva and Ibrahimovic, managing to get both from the rossoneri. This will be Ibra’s seventh team, where he will probably look for the only title that has escaped his reach: the UEFA Champions League.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a record 8-year streak winning the domestic tournament (2004 through 2011 with 5 different teams), which ended after Juventus won the Serie A in the 2011-2012 season. Zlatan also won 6 Supercups (both local and regional) and 1 Club World Cup, scoring 218 goals in 450 appearances (0.48 goals per game) and delivering 93 assists (1 assist every 5 games). Ibrahimovic has been amongst the top goal scorers and top assist givers in all the leagues he has played in, showing that he has been important for his team in all the trophies won. He has won at least one trophy for the last 9 seasons. Goal scorer, team player (although some still think he is too individualistic) and trophy collector.
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