Zlatan retires after over 20 years in the world elite. A career whose imprint shows that football is more than football. It is hard to believe that Sweden will experience something similar.
The heel against Italy in European Championship 2004? The bicycle against England? El Clasico– the decision? Shot against Hungary in the WC qualifiers 2005? The dribbles in front of the goal for Ajax? Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, Milan, Manchester UnitedLA Galaxy and Milan again. And the many, many titles that he hoisted.
It is an unprecedented Swedish football career that came to an end on Sunday in Milan. Zlatan stepped in and spoke to the crowd at San Siro after the last match of the season, which he watched from the stands. In the speech, it appeared as if his career was over, which Zlatan confirmed at a press conference afterwards.
It’s over. During the time in the national team and when Zlatan had reached the age of 30, he was occasionally asked questions about how long he would last. Zlatan was clear that he would finish at the top, but in recent years he has been just as honest about how difficult it is to finish. That he had anxiety about leaving what had been his home for large parts of his life.
It is of course understandable and that is probably why we have seen him struggle with operations and rehab training (even if we have only seen a fraction of the work he put in). A 40-plus man who struggles to be able to play football, even if you get the impression that his body hardly obeys him fully. It just didn’t work anymore and that’s why it’s over.
The information about continuing to play in Monza, which Zlatan himself revealed in an Italian newspaper interview, became nothing more than an offer from the club. Zlatan is retiring and it is hard to understand that a person who has dominated Swedish football in every possible way since his Allsvenskan debut in MFF in the fall of 1999 is now stepping off the football field for good.
With the power of football, Zlatan showed the way and that opened the doors to many more and not only in Swedish football but in society at large. He went his own way, for better or for worse, but made many with similar backgrounds see the power of believing in yourself. And there aren’t many places in the world where the answer “I’m from Sweden” doesn’t get the reaction “Zlatan?”.
From the first steps in Malmö FF and Superettan 2000, which are well documented in the film Blådårar 2, on to Europe with both club teams and national teams. There are few that he has left untouched and mostly it has been about his football, but also about his attitude and attitude towards the outside world. Zlatan has not apologized, focused on himself. He has scored goals and lifted titles.
Zlatan never won the Ballon d’or, but he competed with some of the giants of the time in the form of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and kept pace at times. It was a senseless development and where Zlatan hung in there. To compare is next to impossible, but with Zlatan, Sweden had a player at the top of the world for ten years and where he left his mark.
Comparing players over time is next to impossible. Gunnar Nordahl did so, Ralf Edström so followed by Tomas Brolin and Henrik Larsson. How do they stack up against Zlatan? One aspect that makes Zlatan’s efforts greater is that the competition in world football has never been greater than when he excelled. It is not possible to compare Zlatan with players in the 1950s, 1970s or hardly even the 1990s.
Today, the whole world is open in a different way and significantly more countries invest in football. To then get from Malmö and out into the world and not only take a place in some of the biggest clubs in the world but be one of the leaders is huge. If Sweden gets to see something similar? You should never say never, but it’s hard to see someone whose skills give the same impact.
The book Jag är Zlatan, which he and David Lagercrantz wrote together, was a strong story about coming from small circumstances and getting ahead with football as help. The 2011 bestseller also depicted vulnerability, segregation, codes and a sense of not fitting in. It gave much more than just the image of Zlatan as the cocky macho guy.
Zlatan went his own way and wanted it his way. It is rarely conflict-free, and it was featured in both newspaper headlines and television interviews. There were a few of us who ended up in that firing range and you have to live with that as a journalist and sometimes there are questions that need to be asked or that something needs to be questioned. We have our different roles and I think Zlatan also grasped that, even if he was happy to give back.
Zlatan worked well in an environment where it was about the best in the group deciding. He rose to the top and made sure to be the highest in the hierarchy to be able to influence. The only time it didn’t work was with Pep Guardiola in Barcelona, who already had Lionel Messi in the team, and after one season Zlatan moved on from the Spanish big club.
Of course it was a difficult task when Zlatan as a Barcelona player ended up in the national team in 2009 and the new national team captain Erik Hamrén would lure him back. That put Hamrén and the football association in a tough position when they needed the superstar to arrange sponsors, sell TV rights and match tickets. Especially so with a new national arena in the works.
Clearly, Zlatan was number one and that gave him a position of power that a number of grown men at SvFF and in the national team management were afraid to disturb. It created a situation in and around the national team that was not optimal when it comes to the balance of power in and around the team, the dressing room and group dynamics. There were players and managers who did not appreciate the jargon, the jokes and the atmosphere.
So it was, although I know not everyone likes that image, and Zlatan’s power is still great in the world of football. However, it must be said that the Zlatan who returned to the national team in 2021 was something completely different. Pushy, positive, helpful and someone the young players could lean on.
What exactly is finishing on top? Zlatan returned to Milan after barely three years in Los Angeles and then the former big club was on the ice. He pulled it up the table and the crowning came a year ago when Milan won the Italian Serie A for the first time since 2011 when Zlatan was there. It’s to finish on top to show that you stick in Europe after a serious knee injury forced him to leave Manchester United.
Injuries have ruined Zlatan at the end but of course it won’t even be a bracket, and the importance he had for Milan could be seen in the teammates around him. He has made an impact since returning in January 2020 and has been a force for the club as they bounce back. To a league title. To the Champions League.
Wherever Zlatan went, he was there to win. It was a slow start at Ajax but eventually became a success and part of that transformation was with Mino Raiola, the agent who died a year ago and was so important to Zlatan, and who made him chase more assists and goals rather than fancy dribbling .
After that there were titles with Juventus (I know the club lost them but Zlatan can easily count them), Inter, Barcelona, Milan, Paris SG and Manchester United and Milan. The exception was the Los Angeles Galaxy where Zlatan did his part, but where the team all around was not that strong and MLS is special with its regulations.
In the national team, there were a series of championships after the debut in the WC in Japan and South Korea in 2002: EC 2004, WC 2006, EC 2008, EC 2012 and EC 2016. In terms of results, there was never any real success and when Zlatan was having a hard time, such as the EC in France In 2016, the national team had a tough time. The reason for the comeback in the national team can be found in the fact that Janne Andersson’s national team went further than any Swedish national team has done since the USA World Cup in 1994.
Unfortunately, there was no EC game in 2021 after a knee injury. There were a few international matches in the World Cup qualifiers and an appearance in the European Championship qualifiers against Belgium in March, which was the last thing Zlatan did on a football field. The imprint is there in a broken goal record, Zlatan has 62 goals and runner-up Sven Rydell has 49, and in a mind-boggling twelve Golden Balls.
What happens now? The speculation is in full swing and I have a hard time seeing him return home to Swedish football. Regardless of what the national team or Hammarby attract. My belief is that in time he will either become sporting director at Milan or another major club or alternatively enter the agency business and then work with Rafaela Pimenta who has taken over Raiola’s agency.
It is clear that Zlatan will want to win and make an impression even when he continues with something other than playing football. If it gets as much attention? Not really, but Zlatan has an ability to generate interest, which he has shown for almost 25 years – and it is not ending.
On fotbolskanalen.se, you can read even more articles about Zlatan’s departure from football