Widely regarded as one of the world’s best players, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has quietly started building quite an empire off the pitch, too. With a successful clothing brand ‘A-Z’ already under his belt, the Manchester United star is adding to his existing line of fragrances with the release of two new scents this May. To celebrate the launch, we sat down with the most confident man in football to talk success on and off the pitch, style icons and the one player he would have liked to line up alongside (if we take Zlatan out of the equation, of course).
As someone who’s so confident, did you use a chat-up line to woo your wife? If I answer that, I’ll be in serious trouble. There are two different stories; one is where I chased her, and one is where she chased me. We never say which one is true, we say it’s 50:50. Probably though I chased her. But don’t tell her I told you that.
You’ve played alongside some of the greatest players of all time. Is there anyone that you’ve never been able to play alongside that you wished you had? I have to say, I’ve been lucky enough to play with many great football players. I’ve had the luck to play at probably the best and the greatest and biggest clubs in the world. And the thing is, wherever I came, I did something. I made a difference. I won. I conquered every country I came to. So that for me is something amazing, but at the same time, I had the luck to play with great players, and they had the luck to play with me. But if I missed any other players to play with, maybe Ronaldo. The Brazilian. For me, he is football. He is the perfect example of how you want to play football.
What’s the key to your fitness routine? I do martial arts like taekwondo to keep me flexible. I do a lot of kicking; I’m pretty good at doing epic splits. I always liked martial arts, it’s the sort of training that triggers me because I get the adrenaline rush, it gives me something extra. That’s why I still like it today. But I don’t train with it like I did before, but originally, that’s probably where I got the flexibility from, and flexibility is so important when doing sport, even if you are not a professional sportsman.
Who’s your style icon? My wife is more involved in fashion; I am more simple. I ask her sometimes: ‘Does it fit? Does it work? Does it match or not?’, but really, I want to feel comfortable. If I feel comfortable, then I feel I can go out and not care what anyone says. I suppose Jose [Mourinho] is elegant. He always was elegant, all through his career. He looks stylish, clean, macho but at the same time elegant. He looks cool. But I’m more casual.
Finally, you once referred to yourself as God. So did Kanye West. If the two of you were to meet – who’s the real one? There are a lot of kings out there, but there can be only one God. You know who that is.
Zlatan’s new fragrance is available from 10 May at Mankind.co.uk.