This year's Swede in the World

The successful Swedish international soccer player was elected by the organization SVIV (Svenskar i Varlden). A proud Zlatan Ibrahimovic received the diploma and award in Stockholm earlier this week. 

  • Soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimovic – here Swede of the year in 2013 - has purchased another property, a church-turned-townhouse in Stockholm. Photo: Frankie Fouganthin
  • According to daily GöteborgsPosten, there are half a million Swedes living abroad. And these Swedish expats have now chosen their own favorite expat Swede for 2013. Who it is? Why, soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimovic, of course!
    Ibrahimovic can now call himself "Årets svensk i världen" ("This Year’s Swede in the World"). “I’m very proud,” he said. It is the organization Svenskar i Världen that decided to put focus on the famous soccer player, and during a short ceremony at the Swedish national soccer team’s hotel at Humlegården in Stockholm, he received a diploma and a glass figurine from Chairman of the Board Michael Treschow and Secretary General Karin Ehnbom-Palmquist. Meanwhile, member of the board Helena Stålnert conducted an interview.

  • The prize itself won’t be awarded until August, but since it is unlikely that Ibrahimovic can be present then, a feature was already filmed on Sunday. According to TT sources, Ibrahimovic was proud and happy over the award, which wasn’t supposed to be made public until next week.

  • Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was born in Malmö in 1981, moved abroad in the summer of 2001. Malmö FF had sold him to Ajax, a Dutch professional soccer club, for the record sum of 82.5 million SEK ($12.5 million). Twelve years later, Ibrahimovic is the most discussed Swedish sportsman, in Sweden as well as internationally. He’s worth several hundreds of millions of SEK and owns property in Sweden, Milan, Miami and New York, among other places. He has resided in Amsterdam, Turin, Milan, and Barcelona, and since last summer has been living in Paris with his partner Helena Seger and their sons Maximilian (7 years old) and Vincent (5).

  • For more information on the award and the organization: www.sviv.se