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Mover and Shaker
Having swapped his football boots for business suits at AC Milan, Zlatan Ibrahimović is finding his feet in an unaccustomed role. But what hasn’t changed, says Derek Brookman, is the charismatic Swede’s drive and ambition as he sets his sights on taking the Rossoneri back to the top
PHOTOGRAPHY Daniele Buffa
Cover Stories
We probably all have our own favourite memory of Zlatan Ibrahimović. Dribbling his way through the entire NAC Breda defence and scoring for Ajax, perhaps. His four-goal salvo for Sweden against England, capped by an astonishing overhead kick from way outside the box. That overhead kick for Milan against Udinese. A drive of almost unnatural power when playing for Paris Saint-Germain against Anderlecht. Maybe his debut for LA Galaxy, marked by a thumping equaliser from over 30 metres. The catalogue of flicks and tricks, more at home in a kung fu movie than on a football pitch. The athleticism. The attitude. The smiles and scowls. All combining to make up one of the most inventive, dynamic, unpredictable and successful footballers of this century.
So it takes a bit of getting used to when he strides into his office at Casa Milan, AC Milan’s headquarters, situated northwest of the city centre, about 3km from San Siro. Yes, the building is inevitably black and red, and the walls are richly adorned with images of historic moments from the club’s past, but it’s clearly a corporate setting, brushed steel on the exterior, corridors full of glass-fronted offices on the inside.
This is the backdrop for the newest chapter in the Zlatan Ibrahimović story. The retired forward enjoyed two spells with Milan in his playing days, winning the Serie A title during the first in 2010/11 before returning to do it again in 2021/22. Having hung up his boots at the age of 41 in June 2023, he was then lured back into the Rossoneri embrace as a senior advisor for American owners RedBird Capital Partners six months later.
Football’s strutting superstar recast as a boardroom suit? You’d better believe it, though some things never change, including the fact that we’re all still talking about Zlatan. Or that when the press officer’s assistant announces “He’s here” through the doorway to his office, everyone in the room – camera crew, photographer, interviewers – experiences a jolt of expectation. Seconds later, the charismatic Swede is standing before us, shaking people’s hands, rat-tat-tatting in fluent Italian, beaming that extraordinary smile of his.
“I believe in the project,” he starts, launching into what brought him back to the club where he scored 93 goals in 163 games. “I believe in what Milan stands for. I share the same vision as the people working here and the ownership because they want to do amazing things. They’re aiming to make history and to win, and when it comes to winning, that’s where I feel I’m alive because I want to win as well. I’ll do anything to win, and I don’t give up until I succeed.”
It’s a polished statement which suggests Ibrahimović is already finding his feet in the corporate realm, but it does not quite get to the heart of the question – why Milan? After all, here is a man who won league titles with teams in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France. Who picked up 32 club trophies, was nominated for the Ballon d’Or 11 times and is Sweden’s all-time leading goalscorer. Surely his services would have been coveted by clubs all over the globe? Pressed again, he digs a little deeper.
“I played for many clubs – amazing clubs, great clubs, great teams – and yet the one that gave me most in my career is Milan. I was here twice. The first time, they gave me happiness. The second time, they gave me love. I feel I just want to give back. So, I’m just proud and happy, and very ambitious to help and give back.”
There is a sense too of continuity, Ibrahimović having already assumed a leadership role when he rejoined Milan in 2020. If Ibra 1.0 was all vision, power and elastic limbs – a double-jointed praying mantis with a hair bun – the 2.0 version relied on aura and experience. He was the elder statesman who led by example in training, and whose motivational skills inspired his younger colleagues to Scudetto glory. “No one believed in us,” he told the team after they had wrapped up the 2021/22 title. “I’m proud of all of you. Do me a favour, celebrate like champions. It isn’t Milan that belongs to AC Milan – Italy belongs to AC Milan!”
“The club that gave me most in my career is Milan. The first time they gave me happiness; The second time they gave me love”
“whatever I do, I do it to the maximum. I put myself in deep waters where I feel like I’m drowning, but I know afterwards I will fly”
“We are missing some results in games, but a lot of new things have happened at the club. Milan Futuro is a new thing. We are changing the academy – new thing. We have a new coach – new thing. We have a couple of new players – new thing. So, there’s a lot of new things that have to click together, and when they’re clicking, then you start to fly.”
Performances have doubtless fluctuated under Portuguese boss Paulo Fonseca, but there have been rays of hope. September’s derby win against Inter was a welcome boost, and the Rossoneri positively excelled during their 3-1 victory away to Champions League holders Real Madrid on Matchday 4, only the second time they had defeated the hosts at the Santiago Bernabéu. A perfect statement with the club’s 125th anniversary fast approaching, and one of the standout results of the competition’s new league phase – which Ibrahimović helped promote back in August by flaunting his acting skills in an explainer video.
The five-minute film proved that Ibrahimović can take a joke at his own expense, not least when UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin teased him for having never won the Champions League. Righting that wrong is the mission now, and Ibrahimović sees a neat link with Milan’s glorious past in the form of Dutch international Tijjani Reijnders, who scored their third goal at the Bernabéu. Like himself, the former AZ Alkmaar midfielder moved to Italy from the Netherlands, but it is a different Dutch connection that has Ibrahimović recalling the Rossoneri’s golden years.
“If we go way back, you have a historical trio with Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, who are the icons, the symbols of this club. Dutch players have a good résumé at this club, so he is a little bit under pressure as a Dutch footballer to perform and show who he is. But he is doing a good job. We’re very happy with him, and he should just continue doing what he’s doing. And then, like every Milan player, you get remembered for what you win. Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, they are all remembered for what they won.”
Together, those Dutch stars clinched back-to-back European Cups in 1988/89 and 1989/90 – two of Milan’s seven continental titles, a tally surpassed only by Madrid. It is now 17 years since the last of those triumphs, but Ibrahimović is bent on helping the club reassume their rightful standing. “Milan are already global,” he says. “Milan are well known in the whole world. Wherever we go, we are well known. And, if you look at the history results-wise, Milan are on top. Milan have been doing less well on the European stage [in recent years], and that is one of our aims because Milan belong at the top of European football.
“There are no shortcuts to arrive there. If you look at Italian football, we cannot compare with the Premier League. The way the situation is there with the finances and things like that, we are talking about different levels. We have to work in different conditions, we have to be more intelligent, we have to make different moves, and that’s what we are doing. That’s why we are getting these results. So, the goal is to be who we are and arrive on the global stage because Milan are global.”
Financial analysis, player development and global strategy… Meet Ibra 3.0, in other words. It’s almost enough to make you think he is evolving into a different person, but then he delivers a passionate summary of his gym routine and everything feels reassuringly familiar. “I like to suffer,” he begins, in classic Zlatan style. “Whatever I do, I do it to the maximum. If I run, I need to do the maximum: sweat, really feel like I’m doing everything. Lift some weights, do CrossFit, put myself in deep waters, where I feel like I’m drowning, but I know, afterwards, I will fly. That’s why I’m always flying, and I like to fly. I don’t like to walk.” Like we said, some things never change.
So it takes a bit of getting used to when he strides into his office at Casa Milan, AC Milan’s headquarters, situated northwest of the city centre, about 3km from San Siro. Yes, the building is inevitably black and red, and the walls are richly adorned with images of historic moments from the club’s past, but it’s clearly a corporate setting, brushed steel on the exterior, corridors full of glass-fronted offices on the inside.
This is the backdrop for the newest chapter in the Zlatan Ibrahimović story. The retired forward enjoyed two spells with Milan in his playing days, winning the Serie A title during the first in 2010/11 before returning to do it again in 2021/22. Having hung up his boots at the age of 41 in June 2023, he was then lured back into the Rossoneri embrace as a senior advisor for American owners RedBird Capital Partners six months later.
Football’s strutting superstar recast as a boardroom suit? You’d better believe it, though some things never change, including the fact that we’re all still talking about Zlatan. Or that when the press officer’s assistant announces “He’s here” through the doorway to his office, everyone in the room – camera crew, photographer, interviewers – experiences a jolt of expectation. Seconds later, the charismatic Swede is standing before us, shaking people’s hands, rat-tat-tatting in fluent Italian, beaming that extraordinary smile of his.
“I believe in the project,” he starts, launching into what brought him back to the club where he scored 93 goals in 163 games. “I believe in what Milan stands for. I share the same vision as the people working here and the ownership because they want to do amazing things. They’re aiming to make history and to win, and when it comes to winning, that’s where I feel I’m alive because I want to win as well. I’ll do anything to win, and I don’t give up until I succeed.”
It’s a polished statement which suggests Ibrahimović is already finding his feet in the corporate realm, but it does not quite get to the heart of the question – why Milan? After all, here is a man who won league titles with teams in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France. Who picked up 32 club trophies, was nominated for the Ballon d’Or 11 times and is Sweden’s all-time leading goalscorer. Surely his services would have been coveted by clubs all over the globe? Pressed again, he digs a little deeper.
“I played for many clubs – amazing clubs, great clubs, great teams – and yet the one that gave me most in my career is Milan. I was here twice. The first time, they gave me happiness. The second time, they gave me love. I feel I just want to give back. So, I’m just proud and happy, and very ambitious to help and give back.”
There is a sense too of continuity, Ibrahimović having already assumed a leadership role when he rejoined Milan in 2020. If Ibra 1.0 was all vision, power and elastic limbs – a double-jointed praying mantis with a hair bun – the 2.0 version relied on aura and experience. He was the elder statesman who led by example in training, and whose motivational skills inspired his younger colleagues to Scudetto glory. “No one believed in us,” he told the team after they had wrapped up the 2021/22 title. “I’m proud of all of you. Do me a favour, celebrate like champions. It isn’t Milan that belongs to AC Milan – Italy belongs to AC Milan!”
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“The club that gave me most in my career is Milan. The first time they gave me happiness; The second time they gave me love”
“whatever I do, I do it to the maximum. I put myself in deep waters where I feel like I’m drowning, but I know afterwards I will fly”
“We are missing some results in games, but a lot of new things have happened at the club. Milan Futuro is a new thing. We are changing the academy – new thing. We have a new coach – new thing. We have a couple of new players – new thing. So, there’s a lot of new things that have to click together, and when they’re clicking, then you start to fly.”
Performances have doubtless fluctuated under Portuguese boss Paulo Fonseca, but there have been rays of hope. September’s derby win against Inter was a welcome boost, and the Rossoneri positively excelled during their 3-1 victory away to Champions League holders Real Madrid on Matchday 4, only the second time they had defeated the hosts at the Santiago Bernabéu. A perfect statement with the club’s 125th anniversary fast approaching, and one of the standout results of the competition’s new league phase – which Ibrahimović helped promote back in August by flaunting his acting skills in an explainer video.
The five-minute film proved that Ibrahimović can take a joke at his own expense, not least when UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin teased him for having never won the Champions League. Righting that wrong is the mission now, and Ibrahimović sees a neat link with Milan’s glorious past in the form of Dutch international Tijjani Reijnders, who scored their third goal at the Bernabéu. Like himself, the former AZ Alkmaar midfielder moved to Italy from the Netherlands, but it is a different Dutch connection that has Ibrahimović recalling the Rossoneri’s golden years.
“If we go way back, you have a historical trio with Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, who are the icons, the symbols of this club. Dutch players have a good résumé at this club, so he is a little bit under pressure as a Dutch footballer to perform and show who he is. But he is doing a good job. We’re very happy with him, and he should just continue doing what he’s doing. And then, like every Milan player, you get remembered for what you win. Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, they are all remembered for what they won.”
Together, those Dutch stars clinched back-to-back European Cups in 1988/89 and 1989/90 – two of Milan’s seven continental titles, a tally surpassed only by Madrid. It is now 17 years since the last of those triumphs, but Ibrahimović is bent on helping the club reassume their rightful standing. “Milan are already global,” he says. “Milan are well known in the whole world. Wherever we go, we are well known. And, if you look at the history results-wise, Milan are on top. Milan have been doing less well on the European stage [in recent years], and that is one of our aims because Milan belong at the top of European football.
“There are no shortcuts to arrive there. If you look at Italian football, we cannot compare with the Premier League. The way the situation is there with the finances and things like that, we are talking about different levels. We have to work in different conditions, we have to be more intelligent, we have to make different moves, and that’s what we are doing. That’s why we are getting these results. So, the goal is to be who we are and arrive on the global stage because Milan are global.”
Financial analysis, player development and global strategy… Meet Ibra 3.0, in other words. It’s almost enough to make you think he is evolving into a different person, but then he delivers a passionate summary of his gym routine and everything feels reassuringly familiar. “I like to suffer,” he begins, in classic Zlatan style. “Whatever I do, I do it to the maximum. If I run, I need to do the maximum: sweat, really feel like I’m doing everything. Lift some weights, do CrossFit, put myself in deep waters, where I feel like I’m drowning, but I know, afterwards, I will fly. That’s why I’m always flying, and I like to fly. I don’t like to walk.” Like we said, some things never change.
So it takes a bit of getting used to when he strides into his office at Casa Milan, AC Milan’s headquarters, situated northwest of the city centre, about 3km from San Siro. Yes, the building is inevitably black and red, and the walls are richly adorned with images of historic moments from the club’s past, but it’s clearly a corporate setting, brushed steel on the exterior, corridors full of glass-fronted offices on the inside.
This is the backdrop for the newest chapter in the Zlatan Ibrahimović story. The retired forward enjoyed two spells with Milan in his playing days, winning the Serie A title during the first in 2010/11 before returning to do it again in 2021/22. Having hung up his boots at the age of 41 in June 2023, he was then lured back into the Rossoneri embrace as a senior advisor for American owners RedBird Capital Partners six months later.
Football’s strutting superstar recast as a boardroom suit? You’d better believe it, though some things never change, including the fact that we’re all still talking about Zlatan. Or that when the press officer’s assistant announces “He’s here” through the doorway to his office, everyone in the room – camera crew, photographer, interviewers – experiences a jolt of expectation. Seconds later, the charismatic Swede is standing before us, shaking people’s hands, rat-tat-tatting in fluent Italian, beaming that extraordinary smile of his.
“I believe in the project,” he starts, launching into what brought him back to the club where he scored 93 goals in 163 games. “I believe in what Milan stands for. I share the same vision as the people working here and the ownership because they want to do amazing things. They’re aiming to make history and to win, and when it comes to winning, that’s where I feel I’m alive because I want to win as well. I’ll do anything to win, and I don’t give up until I succeed.”
It’s a polished statement which suggests Ibrahimović is already finding his feet in the corporate realm, but it does not quite get to the heart of the question – why Milan? After all, here is a man who won league titles with teams in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France. Who picked up 32 club trophies, was nominated for the Ballon d’Or 11 times and is Sweden’s all-time leading goalscorer. Surely his services would have been coveted by clubs all over the globe? Pressed again, he digs a little deeper.
“I played for many clubs – amazing clubs, great clubs, great teams – and yet the one that gave me most in my career is Milan. I was here twice. The first time, they gave me happiness. The second time, they gave me love. I feel I just want to give back. So, I’m just proud and happy, and very ambitious to help and give back.”
There is a sense too of continuity, Ibrahimović having already assumed a leadership role when he rejoined Milan in 2020. If Ibra 1.0 was all vision, power and elastic limbs – a double-jointed praying mantis with a hair bun – the 2.0 version relied on aura and experience. He was the elder statesman who led by example in training, and whose motivational skills inspired his younger colleagues to Scudetto glory. “No one believed in us,” he told the team after they had wrapped up the 2021/22 title. “I’m proud of all of you. Do me a favour, celebrate like champions. It isn’t Milan that belongs to AC Milan – Italy belongs to AC Milan!”
“The club that gave me most in my career is Milan. The first time they gave me happiness; The second time they gave me love”
“whatever I do, I do it to the maximum. I put myself in deep waters where I feel like I’m drowning, but I know afterwards I will fly”
“We are missing some results in games, but a lot of new things have happened at the club. Milan Futuro is a new thing. We are changing the academy – new thing. We have a new coach – new thing. We have a couple of new players – new thing. So, there’s a lot of new things that have to click together, and when they’re clicking, then you start to fly.”
Performances have doubtless fluctuated under Portuguese boss Paulo Fonseca, but there have been rays of hope. September’s derby win against Inter was a welcome boost, and the Rossoneri positively excelled during their 3-1 victory away to Champions League holders Real Madrid on Matchday 4, only the second time they had defeated the hosts at the Santiago Bernabéu. A perfect statement with the club’s 125th anniversary fast approaching, and one of the standout results of the competition’s new league phase – which Ibrahimović helped promote back in August by flaunting his acting skills in an explainer video.
The five-minute film proved that Ibrahimović can take a joke at his own expense, not least when UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin teased him for having never won the Champions League. Righting that wrong is the mission now, and Ibrahimović sees a neat link with Milan’s glorious past in the form of Dutch international Tijjani Reijnders, who scored their third goal at the Bernabéu. Like himself, the former AZ Alkmaar midfielder moved to Italy from the Netherlands, but it is a different Dutch connection that has Ibrahimović recalling the Rossoneri’s golden years.
“If we go way back, you have a historical trio with Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit, who are the icons, the symbols of this club. Dutch players have a good résumé at this club, so he is a little bit under pressure as a Dutch footballer to perform and show who he is. But he is doing a good job. We’re very happy with him, and he should just continue doing what he’s doing. And then, like every Milan player, you get remembered for what you win. Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, they are all remembered for what they won.”
Together, those Dutch stars clinched back-to-back European Cups in 1988/89 and 1989/90 – two of Milan’s seven continental titles, a tally surpassed only by Madrid. It is now 17 years since the last of those triumphs, but Ibrahimović is bent on helping the club reassume their rightful standing. “Milan are already global,” he says. “Milan are well known in the whole world. Wherever we go, we are well known. And, if you look at the history results-wise, Milan are on top. Milan have been doing less well on the European stage [in recent years], and that is one of our aims because Milan belong at the top of European football.
“There are no shortcuts to arrive there. If you look at Italian football, we cannot compare with the Premier League. The way the situation is there with the finances and things like that, we are talking about different levels. We have to work in different conditions, we have to be more intelligent, we have to make different moves, and that’s what we are doing. That’s why we are getting these results. So, the goal is to be who we are and arrive on the global stage because Milan are global.”
Financial analysis, player development and global strategy… Meet Ibra 3.0, in other words. It’s almost enough to make you think he is evolving into a different person, but then he delivers a passionate summary of his gym routine and everything feels reassuringly familiar. “I like to suffer,” he begins, in classic Zlatan style. “Whatever I do, I do it to the maximum. If I run, I need to do the maximum: sweat, really feel like I’m doing everything. Lift some weights, do CrossFit, put myself in deep waters, where I feel like I’m drowning, but I know, afterwards, I will fly. That’s why I’m always flying, and I like to fly. I don’t like to walk.” Like we said, some things never change.
