Sports
Five most talked about moments of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s career
Swedish footballer, Zlatan Ibrahimović announced his retirement from football on Sunday after AC Milan’s final match of the Serie A season.
Ibrahimović is one of the players recognised and known for powerful long-range shots, acrobatic strikes, ball control and volleys.
The 41-year-old striker has 511 club goals to his name and 33 major trophies. He is often described as one of the most iconic football strikers in the world.
Ibrahimović began his career at Malmö FF in 1999 and signed for Ajax two years later, where he gained a reputation as one of the most promising forwards in Europe. He departed two years later to sign for Juventus before joining domestic rivals Inter Milan in 2006, where he won three consecutive Serie A titles.
In the summer of 2009, he moved to Barcelona in one of the world’s most expensive transfers. After just one season, he returned to Italy having signed for Inter’s rival Milan. With them, he won the Serie A title in his debut season.
In 2012, Ibrahimović joined Paris Saint-Germain, leading them to their first Ligue 1 title in 19 years and soon establishing himself as a leading figure in their dominance of French football.
However, the player, yesterday, while announcing his retirement from football said he is saying “goodbye to football, not just to you,” referring to the fans. He spoke on the San Siro pitch following Milan’s 3-1 win over Verona.
Zlatan is known for his skill and ability on the football pitch, but he is also known for his fiery personality and his tendency to speak his mind and that has created the most controversial moments of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Ibrahimovic is a player who is not afraid to speak his mind or stand up for himself on the pitch. His savage moments, including insulting Pep Guardiola, calling out Marco Materazzi, and scoring spectacular goals, have made him one of the most entertaining and controversial players in football history.
Here are his five of the most talked about moments:
1. Facing Marco Materazzi
In 2010, Ibrahimovic accused former Italian former footballer Marco Materazzi of insulting his wife and family. This, Ibrahimovic did during a match between AC Milan and Inter Milan.
However, the duo got into a fight and had separated by their colleagues and officials present.
The moment, many described as “standing up” for his family.
2. Bicycle kick goal against England
During a friendly match between Sweden and England in 2012, Ibrahimovic netted one of the most unique goals in the history of football.
He scored a stunning bicycle kick goal from 30 yards out that sailed over the goalkeeper’s head and into the net.
3. Four goals in a match against Anderlecht
In 2013, Ibrahimovic scored four goals out of five in a Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Anderlecht.
One of the uniqueness of the goals was, he scored with both feet and his head and from a range of distances. This describes his specular moves and his role in the elevation of his club.
4. Confronting Pep Guardiola
The player had once disclosed he had a contentious relationship with Spanish football manager, Pep Guardiola when they were both at Barcelona.
He made this known in his autobiography titled “I am Zlatan.”
Explaining what happened, Ibrahimovic said the manager insulted him during a training session by saying, “You have no balls.” Ibrahimovic was said to have replied to Guardiola, “You don’t have any balls either.”
5. Again, critising Pep Guardiola
Ibrahimovic had in 2019, criticized Guardiola for his accomplishment as manager of Manchester City.
“He’s not a man, he’s a coward. He’s a little baby who’s been pampered all his life,” he disclosed, in an interview with the Mirror.
Meanwhile, he also trolled Verona fans booing his retirement speech while addressing the fans of AC Milan during their final Serie A game of the season.
As Ibrahimovic was giving his retirement speech, Verona fans jeered at him, to which he gave a cheeky response by saying, “Keep booing. This is the biggest moment in your year seeing me.”
Signals have emerged that the International Association Football Federation (FIFA) would back Nigeria’s plan to reform her football administration, in view of which the entire Board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi threw in the towel recently.
Chairman, National Sports Commission (NSC), Shehu Dikko, offered this insight in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Friday after meeting with FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF) officials in Switzerland.
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He said the government presented its reform proposals to FIFA after the resignation created a leadership vacuum within the NFF.
“After the resignation of the entire board of the NFF and the General Secretary, naturally we have a lacuna, because there was no provision in the rulebook for situations like that, where we have nobody now to run the NFF legally within the rulebook.”
According to Dikko, the government wants to undertake a comprehensive reform of Nigeria’s football structures, with the process involving consultations with stakeholders.
He said, “We told them, this is our position as a government. The government wants to undertake a comprehensive reform of the football structures in Nigeria, which is something that even FIFA knew has been on the cards for decades in Nigeria.
“So we discussed comprehensive proposals from the government, which are the issues that we think should be reformed, based on the concerns of the stakeholders, and we all agreed on that.”
Dikko said FIFA had endorsed both the resignation of the NFF board and the proposed reforms, while stressing that the process must follow the applicable rules.
“In short, FIFA endorsed the resignation, endorsed reform, agreed that the reform must happen, but it has to go through the proper process and the rulebooks, and they are ready to accommodate that,” he asserted.
Manchester City’s trophy-laden era has come under renewed scrutiny after the club was reportedly found guilty of 114 of the 115 Premier League financial-rule charges brought against it.
The reported verdict, disclosed by The Athletic on Friday, September 25, relates to alleged breaches covering the period between 2009 and 2018.
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The independent hearing lasted more than two years before the outcome emerged.
However, the case is not yet over, as the Premier League has not announced any sanction and Manchester City are expected to appeal the verdict.
The charges include allegations that the club failed to provide accurate financial information and breached rules relating to payments to players and coaches, as well as financial sustainability requirements.
City have consistently denied the allegations.
The reported verdict could have wider implications for the Premier League because the club has won eight league titles, four FA Cups, seven League Cups and one Champions League during the period in which the allegations have been investigated.
Potential sanctions under the league’s rules can include financial penalties and sporting punishments, with points deductions and expulsion among the measures that have been discussed in coverage of the case.
However, no punishment has been confirmed at this stage.
The uncertainty also means questions remain over whether any eventual sanction could affect Manchester City’s past achievements, current squad or future participation in the Premier League.
For now, the reported guilty findings mark a major development in one of English football’s longest-running disciplinary cases, but the final outcome will depend on the sanctioning process and City’s expected appeal.
Chelsea Football Club have confirmed a major ownership change, with Clearlake Capital set to take full control of the club after agreeing to acquire the ownership interests of Todd Boehly and Mark Walter.
Chelsea announced on Wednesday that affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group will acquire Boehly’s ownership interest, as well as Walter’s stake, giving Clearlake full control of the Premier League club.
“Chelsea Football Club today announced affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (‘Clearlake’) will acquire the ownership interest of Todd Boehly.
“Clearlake will also acquire Mark Walter’s ownership interest and therefore acquire full control of the Club,” the club said.
Mark Walter and Todd Boehly have agreed to sell their stakes in Chelsea to Clearlake Capital in a deal that values the club at about £5 billion.
The development marks a significant change to the ownership structure that has been in place since Chelsea’s takeover in 2022.
Chelsea also confirmed that Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss will remain an important partner and stakeholder in the club.
The announcement comes after weeks of reports that Boehly and Walter were considering selling their stakes to Clearlake.
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