STOCKHOLM // A statue of Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be erected outside the Friends Arena in Stockholm, the Swedish FA (SvFF) announced on Monday as the giant striker won the Golden Ball award for the country’s best male player for the 10th year in a row.
The 36-year-old Manchester United forward, who retired from international football after Euro 2016, played 114 games and scored 62 goals for Sweden, including a spectacular four-goal salvo against England in the first game at the arena in 2012.
Ibra has now won the Golden Ball a record 11 times – since its inception in 1946 no other player has won the award more than twice – and his contribution to the game will be honoured with a 2.7 metre statue outside the Friends stadium.
“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,” Ibrahimovic said as he accepted his award.
“You usually get this after you die, but I still feel alive. When I die, this [statue] will live on forever.”
Only in March had he joked about his willingness to stay put at then club Paris Saint-Germain if a statue in his honour was to replace the Eiffel Tower in the French capital.
“For the moment, I will not be at PSG next season,” he said then. “I still have a month and a half left here. If they replace the Eiffel Tower with a statue of me [I would stay].”
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