„MY GRANDMOTHER DIED IN THE WAR, THEY HID IT FROM ME“: Emotional confession of Zlatan Ibrahimović about the poverty and childhood that shaped him!

Zlatan Ibrahimović gave an interview in our language for the first time, and he told how he felt the consequences of the conflict on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

Zlatan Ibrahimović never lived in the Balkans. He was born and raised in Sweden, but he very much felt the consequences of the war in the former Yugoslavia. His grandmother died in the conflicts of the nineties of the last century, and his parents tried to hide it from him.

„The war started, and I didn’t read the newspapers, there were no phones, television – I didn’t watch the news. What I felt was that fear was always on the phone, and he told me to go outside. I understood that he was talking to family in Bosnia. I would come home to my mom, she would kick me out, she said I should eat for two or three people. I was more active. They were always close for the sake of the two of us. One day we come home to mom’s, everyone is in black, no one told me anything. ‘Why are you all in black’ – they didn’t want to tell me. Grandma died in the war, they made a traditional farewell, they didn’t let me go to that. They wanted me to be a little kid who enjoys and does what you want to do. My father told me go outside and play football – so that I wouldn’t feel everything that happened.“

He spoke about growing up in Malmö, as well as how he stole bicycles in order to go to training.

„For me it wasn’t a ghetto, everything I wanted, I had, I didn’t know what it was like on the other side, it was multicultural and we were all together. My father is a Muslim from Bijeljina, my mother a Catholic from Zadar, until the age of 16 I hadn’t been to the center of Malmö! I had no reason to go anywhere, we didn’t even have such trips with the school. I stole a lot of bicycles to go to training, I didn’t have money for the bus. Either I walked, ran, or stole a bicycle to get to training and to school. That was my world. At 16 I went to the city for the first time, a friend invited me. For the first time I see a bus. Everyone blue eyes, hair, and I hadn’t seen that type of people my whole life. It was like another world opened up to me. Okay, so there is more than what I’ve seen. Then I went for a trial at Malmo and they took me. At 18 I went to high school in the city, by bus every day, but also by bicycle because I didn’t always have money for a bus ticket.“

He also spoke about discipline, upbringing, and the circumstances in which he grew up.

„Milk, bread, and bolognese. Three things. I tell my children – if I could succeed with those three things, then you can also succeed with those three things… I have more money than my parents. It’s easier to live with money, but it won’t give you happiness… I teach my children discipline, respect, and independence. If at 18 they are not independent – I haven’t succeeded. We were in Beverly Hills – I’m not saying this to act big now, but that’s what I did. I was playing in Los Angeles then. The children went to school, and everyone had drivers. At school I saw only two bicycles – Vincent’s and Maximilian’s. I bought them two bicycles and said: ‘Take the bicycles and go to school yourselves.’ I was tough and strong, but always for their own good – consistently.“

„MY GRANDMOTHER DIED IN THE WAR, THEY HID IT FROM ME“: Emotional confession of Zlatan Ibrahimović about the poverty and childhood that shaped him!

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