Ibrahimovic autobiography

I AM ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC is the one and only autobiography of and by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sweden’s most successful football player ever and one of the greatest players in the world today. Zlatan’s story is one of both hardships and amazing success. We follow Zlatan from his childhood in the rough immigrant suburbs of Rosengård outside Malmö, to the discovery of his unique talent and his time with some of the major European football clubs; Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona and Milan.

This unique story is now sold to 27 countries, among them Germany, France, Italy and the UK. It is not your ordinary sports biography – it is a story with great literary qualities about an amazingly successful boy growing into a man, and the absolute essence of football.

The autobiography was told by Zlatan and penned by David Lagercrantz, known in Sweden for both amazing biographies and highly praised literary novels. Through long hours of interviewing Zlatan, Lagercrantz managed to capture Zlatan’s personal, and never before told, story. It also let’s us hear the true voice of an immigrant street kid who is now one of the top ten highest paid football players in the world.

I AM ZLATAN was short listed for the Football Book of the Year at the 2014 British Sports Book Awards.

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”Oh my God, this is explosive!”
– Simon Bank, Aftonbladet

“… the genre [footballers’ autobiographies] may now be entering a golden age, I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, perhaps the best recent autobiography by a footballer, has at last appeared in English … a modern European fairy tale.”
– Simon Kuper in New Statesman

“Terrific . . . Far more insightful than your typical jock memoir, Ibra’s book tells his story of growing up as the

2022 book Zlatan Ibrahimović and Luigi Garlando

Adrenaline: My Untold Stories (Italian: Adrenalina: My Untold Stories) is the second autobiography by the Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović, after I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović (2011). The book was written alongside La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Luigi Garlando and first published in Italy in December 2021. The book has been translated into other languages, including an English version to be released by Penguin Books in 2022.

Synopsis

Ibrahimović opens the book by saying "OK I give up. I'm forty years old. I'm a god but a god who ages". He describes the title of the book, adrenaline, as "the key word of my life". He reflects on his period at Manchester United, describing them as having a "small, closed mentality" despite their wealth and prestige; he alleges they docked one pound from his wages for drinking a juice from a hotel minibar. He considers Paris Saint-Germain to have lacked discipline, and says that he offered to replace Leonardo as their sporting director. Ibrahimović claims that his A.C. Milan teammate Hakan Çalhanoğlu exploited a tragedy to move to rivals Inter Milan, namely the opportunity opened up by Christian Eriksen's cardiac arrest in 2021; he considers both Çalhanoğlu and Ante Rebić to be players who can only play well with him on their team.

Release

Adrenaline topped the bestsellers list in Italy in December 2021, ahead of releases by Ken Follett and Donato Carrisi. In the same month, it was released in Sweden by Albert Bonniers Förlag and topped the non-fiction charts ahead of a biography of d

2011 autobiography by Zlatan Ibrahimović

I Am Zlatan Ibrahimović (Swedish: Jag är Zlatan Ibrahimović) is an autobiography of the Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović, 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. A film based on the book was released in Sweden in 2021, titled I Am Zlatan, directed by Jens Sjögren.

Synopsis

Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović tells his life story, starting from his upbringing in Rosengård, a mostly immigrant area of the southern city of Malmö. His Bosniak 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, 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, while remaining self-conscious of his differences.

In Ibrahimović's account of his one season at FC Barcelona (2009–10), he attacks manager Pep Guardiola, whom he considers indirect, cowardly and inflexible. He praises other managers from his career: Leo Beenhakker (AFC Ajax), Fabio Capello (Juventus) and José Mourinho (Inter Milan), as well as his agent Mino Raiola.

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. Per the convention