Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Swedish FA to honour striker with statue in Stockholm

Zlatan Ibrahimovic Swedish FA to honour striker with statue in Stockholm

This announcement comes after Ibrahimovic won the Golden Ball award as the best male Swedish player of the Year.

Published: 22.11.2016
Steve Dede

A statue of Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be erected in front of the the Friends Arena. (Aftonbladet/REX/Shutterstock)

Sweden football legend, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be honoured with a statue in Stockholm the Swedish FA (SvFF) have announced.

This announcement comes after Ibrahimovic won the Golden Ball award as the best male Swedish player for the 10th consecutive year, his 11th in total.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has won the award 11 times (instagram - @iamzlatanibrahimovic)

The statue will be erected outside the Friends Arena; in November 2012 Ibrahimovic scored the first goal in the stadium’s first football game.

He also scored spectacular acrobatic strike from 30-years out with his back to the goal for Sweden’s fourth goal in their 4-2 win over England that day.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored an acrobatic goal against England in 2012 (Offside)

Receiving the award, Ibrahimovic was delighted to be alive to get the honours.

“You usually get this after you die, but I still feel alive. When I die, this statue will live on forever,” he said.

“It feels unreal. Many are thinking ‘Why him?’ and so on, but after all the hard work over 15 years in the national team and 20 years in my club career, it feels like it's being appreciated.”

A special video message was delivered to the Manchester United striker from his friend and former teammate David Beckham.

“You're an amazing person, an amazing player of course, but I have also had the pleasure of playing with you,” Beckham who was his teammate for six months said.

David Beckham through a video message congratulated his friend on his award (IBL/REX/Shutterstock)

“Zlatan is a player who has class, who always wants to win, and proved that at PSG. He was one of those players that it didn't matter if we were playing in an important game or on the training field, he wanted to win. If he wasn't winning, he was like one of my children.”

“His passion, his love for the game has not changed, he's still one of the greatest players to have played the game, and I am happy now he is playing for Manchester United.”

Ibrahimovic forward played 114 games and scored 62 goals for Sweden before retiring after Euro 2016.

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