''I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović'' ( sv, Jag är Zlatan Ibrahimović) is an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

of the Swedish footballer

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

, written alongside the Swedish author David Lagercrantz and first published in Swedish in 2011 by Albert Bonniers Förlag. The book was commercially successful, selling its first edition of 100,000 copies on its first day, and 800,000 by 2017. It was translated into other languages, including a 2013 English translation by Ruth Urbom which was published by

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.I Am Zlatan'', directed by Jens Sjögren.

Synopsis

Swedish footballer

tells his life story, starting from his upbringing in Rosengård, a mostly immigrant area of the southern city of

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

. His

Bosniak The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry, cu ...

father and Croat mother marry for residency permits and separate when he is two; his father suffers from alcohol abuse and trauma from his family's suffering in the ongoing

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

, while his mother is at times violent. Segregated from mainstream Swedish society, he finds a way to integrate while a young footballer at

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

, while remaining self-conscious of his differences. In Ibrahimović's account of his one season at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

( 2009–10), he attacks manager

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of club Manchester City. He is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the re ...

, whom he considers indirect, cowardly and inflexible. He praises other managers from his career:

Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker CM (; born 2 August 1942) is a Dutch international football coach. He has had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. He led both Ajax and Feyenoord to Dutch championships and also had domestic s ...

(

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

Fabio Capello Fabio Capello (; born 18 June 1946) is an Italian former professional football manager and player. As a player, Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career which ...

(

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

) and

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

(

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

), as well as his agent

Mino Raiola Carmine "Mino" Raiola (; 4 November 1967 – 30 April 2022) was an Italian-Dutch football agent known for having represented players such as Pavel Nedvěd, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Paul Pogba and Erling Haaland. He began his career in the Netherl ...

Release

The full first edition of 100,000 copies sold out in Sweden within hours, a level of interest which was unprecedented for Albert Bonniers Förlag marketing manager Martin Ahlström. A further 100,000 copies were commissioned. It was estimated that by the end of the second edition, the book would have grossed 20 million

Swedish kronor The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it b ...

. Per the convention of authors taking 30% of the proceeds, Ibrahimović and Lagercrantz would have shared 6 million kronor between themselves. By May 2012, the book had sold over 500,000 copies in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. In Finland, a first edition of 5,200 copies sold out, with 5,000 being considered a bestseller for biographies. In Italy, where Ibrahimović was playing at the time, it sold 140,000 copies in two months, and 35,000 in Norway. It had also been published in the Netherlands, Denmark (straight to number one), Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, with editions scheduled for Hungary, Iceland and Japan. By December 2017, the book had sold over 800,000 copies in Sweden. The book contributed to an increase in reading for young males in the country.

Reception

From players

In the book, Ibrahimović complains about an unnamed "prima donna" teammate on the

Sweden national football team The Sweden national football team ( sv, svenska fotbollslandslaget) represents Sweden in men's international football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is F ...

, who would complain that they should train and play like his club,

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Freddie Ljungberg accused Ibrahimović of using gossip about him to sell a book: "Personally, if I have a problem with people I take it face to face. But clearly, everyone is different. He wrote a book instead".

From critics

Martina Montelius of ''

Expressen ''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue". ...

'' noted how the book was a reflection of Ibrahimović's individualism and rarely commented on team spirit or playing for Sweden. In her view, the level of honesty was unusual for a Swedish sports autobiography, and more akin to British releases. She commented that the worst recollection of his childhood was not his

juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...

or experiences of

child neglect A form of child abuse, child neglect is an act of caregivers (e.g., parents) that results in depriving a child of their basic needs, such as the failure to provide adequate supervision, health care, clothing, or housing, as well as other physica ...

, but his lack of integration; at 13, he did not know who the Swedish

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

semi-finalist

Thomas Ravelli Thomas Ravelli (; born 13 August 1959) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His 21-year professional career was almost exclusively associated with Öster and Göteborg, for whom he appeared in a combined 416 A ...

was, nor did he watch a Swedish film until he was 20. Simon Kuper of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' called the book the best recent football autobiography. He likened its narrative to that of the novel ''

Portnoy's Complaint ''Portnoy's Complaint'' is a 1969 American novel by Philip Roth. Its success turned Roth into a major celebrity, sparking a storm of controversy over its explicit and candid treatment of sexuality, including detailed depictions of masturbation us ...

'' by

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...

, in which protagonist Alex Portnoy is a Jewish-American in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. The two protagonists are vaguely aware of warfare occurring in their ancestral country. At 17, both move away and try to integrate into the mainstream culture; both are enchanted by blonde women, but are self-conscious of their differences in speech and appearance. In ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Richard Williams called the book possibly "most compelling autobiography ever to appear under a footballer's name". He contrasted the book to a recent release by

Dennis Bergkamp Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp (; born 10 May 1969) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker and then to second striker, where he remained throughout his playing ...

; the two strikers had completely different upbringings, and endured completely different relationships with their coaches. Richard Herbert of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' described the book as "the most compelling autobiography football has known" and called for it to win the

William Hill Sports Book of the Year The William Hill Sports Book of the Year is an annual British sports literary award sponsored by bookmaker William Hill. The award is dedicated to rewarding excellence in sports writing. It was first awarded in 1989, and was devised by Graham ...

. The English translation was nominated for the 2013

, losing to ''Doped'', a book on doping in horse racing in the 1960s. Lagercrantz received attention in 2015 when he told the Hay Festival that many of the quotes in the book were his own creations and were not told to him by Ibrahimović. He defended the practice by saying that due to the difference in spoken and written language, it was necessary to modify what had been told to him by the footballer.

Film

In December 2017, Lagercrantz told ''

Aftonbladet ''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...

'' that there would be a film based on the book. Ibrahimović revealed the trailer for the film in July 2021, and it was released in Swedish cinemas that September.

References

{{reflist 2011 non-fiction books Association football books Swedish autobiographies Sports autobiographies Autobiographies adapted into films Albert Bonniers Förlag books