Zlatan Ibrahimović did not intend to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina or Croatia for a simple reason. That’s why he decided for Sweden.
One of the best strikers of the 21st century, Zlatan Ibrahimović, has decided to retire from football, surprising everyone even though he is only 42 years old. Ibrahimović said that he wanted a new contract with Milan and another appearance for the Swedish national team at the European Championship in 2024, however. a medal with the national team will remain an unfulfilled dream for himalthough he might have had it if by some chance he was performing for his mother’s country of origin.
Zlatan was born in 1981 in Sweden to a family of immigrants from the SFRY. Father Šefik Ibrahimović is a Bosniak from Bijeljina, while mother Jurka Gravić is a Catholic from Croatia. Although proud of his Balkan origins, Zlatan Ibrahimović only wanted to play for Sweden despite speculation that Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia wanted him.
There was much more talk about the Croatian national team because at the beginning of the 2000s, information appeared that the president of the Croatian Association, Vlatko Marković, had arrived in Malmö to negotiate with Zlatan about his performance for the “Vatrene”. He didn’t succeed in that and for a long time there was a theory that it was because of the taxi driver who couldn’t find his home where Father Šefik was waiting, so he got angry with the Croats and that’s why he told them no. Of course, it turned out not to be true, and years later the late Vlatko Marković admitted that he had lied that Ibra was close to the Croatia jersey.
“Never, at least when it comes to us, did we talk to Ibrahimović and suggest that he play for Croatia. Over six thousand young footballers from Bosnia and Herzegovina passed through our service in HNS, because at one time we helped that association. Unfortunately, we did not know for Ibrahimovic, neither from BiH nor from Croatia, nobody informed us that there is such a great player in Sweden. I really admire him, every year I vote for him when the best football player is chosen. He is really a fantastic player“, Marković once said.
Why didn’t Zlatan choose BiH or Croatia? A lie circulated for years, and Ibra explained everything: I am from the Balkans, but…
Before the match between Sweden and Croatia in 2012, Zlatan definitely put an end to these allegations. “I’ve already been asked about it… My mother is Croatian, my father is from Bosnia, but I was born in Sweden and I never had a dilemma as to who I would play for. Honestly, I don’t think anyone has ever approached me with the question of whether I will play for Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
It is well known that Zlatan Ibrahimović has excellent relations with many footballers from the Balkans, so he has been a friend of Dejan Stanković for years, he also had an excellent relationship with the late Siniša Mihajlović, while he never hid that this climate was the reason for his “crazy character”. “I carry the temperament of the Balkans in my head. My family is connected to this climate, at home we speak ‘in our own way’. I have that mentality and I will always carry it in me.” said the Swede.
We will only see how Zlatan Ibrahimović will survive without football, which he has been playing every day since the nineties, and during his rich career he played for Malmo, Ajax, Juventus, Milan, Inter, Barcelona, PSG, Manchester United and LA Galaxy. He finished his career with 511 goals at the club level to his name, while for the Swedish national team he has 122 matches and 62 goals.
(WORLD)