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ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC

IN PICTURES: Swedish football fans sell Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s nose on eBay

A fallen statue, a home town betrayal and three casts of an amputated nose. Fans of Malmö club MFF are selling Ibrahimovic's nose on eBay in a protest against modern football. How did we get here?

Published: 24 May 2022 13:35 CEST
IN PICTURES: Swedish football fans sell Zlatan Ibrahimovic's nose on eBay
Zlatan Ibrahimovic's statue in Malmö painted white and with its nose cut off. Malmö football fans are now selling casts of the nose on eBay. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Anonymous football fans are auctioning three copies of Zlatan’s amputated nose on auction site eBay, stating on their website, vararnasan.se (“where is the nose.se”) that the aim of the initiative is to “draw attention to the problems in Swedish and international football”.

A cast of the Ibrahimovic statue’s amputated nose for sale on eBay. The current bid at time of writing was $500, almost 5000 kronor. Photo: Screenshot from eBay.

But how did they get a cast of Zlatan’s amputated nose in the first place?

The story begins in 2019, when a statue of Malmö-born footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic was raised outside Malmö FF’s stadium.

Ibrahimovic, who has played for top international clubs such as Manchester United, Ajax, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain as well as Sweden’s national team, started his career at Malmö FF in 1999.

When Ibrahimovic’s statue was unveiled on October 8th, 2019, fans flocked to Malmö stadium to catch a glimpse of the much-loved football star returning to his roots.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic poses by his statue outside Malmö stadium in 2019. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
However, the statue didn’t last long. Just over a month later, on November 27th, Ibrahimovic announced that he had become part-owner of Hammarby IF, a rival club based in Stockholm. In an interview with Aftonbladet’s sport section, Sportbladet, Ibrahimovic said that he “will help Hammarby become the best in Scandinavia”.
 
Ibrahimovic was convinced that the people of his hometown who had just raised a statue in his honour would welcome his decision to become part owner of a rival club, telling Aftonbladet that he “knows they won’t be disappointed”, and that “Malmö are happy for me”. 
 
Unfortunately for the footballer, he was mistaken. On the same day Zlatan made the announcement he was becoming part-owner of Hammarby, the statue had its head covered with a plastic bag and a toilet ring hung on its arm.
 

Ibrahimovic’s statue is decorated with a toilet seat and covered with a plastic bag. A sign at his feet reads “to be moved immediately to Söder(malm) in Stockholm”, where Hammarby IF are based. Photo: Andreas Hillergren/TT
 
A few days later, on December 2nd, Ibrahimovic’s shorts were painted red and the word “JUDAS!” was sprayed on the base of his statue.
 

Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
Multiple attempts were made to topple the statue, resulting in cuts on its feet and legs. 
 

A passerby takes photos of the statue’s damaged feet and legs. It was placed behind a fence to protect it from further damage. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
Finally, on December 22nd 2020, the statue was sprayed with silver paint and its nose was cut off. The location of the amputated nose is still unknown, two years later.
 
On January 21st, 2020, the statue was removed and has been stored in a hidden location since.
 

The base of the Zlatan statue awaits removal on January 21st, 2020. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
 
Malmö FF fan and SVT profile John Taylor told Aftonbladet in April 2020 that he “knows where Zlatan’s nose is”, adding that “it’s in Malmö” and that it was “at a party around New Years… around someone’s neck”, but its current location remains a mystery.
The football supporters selling casts of the nose are anonymous, describing themselves to newspaper Sydsvenskan as “some anonymous Malmö FF supporters who want to lift the discussion of football’s commercialisation and the problems surrounding this”.
 
They told Sydsvenskan that they don’t know where the original nose is, writing that “when the nose was making its rounds in Malmö, we took our chance to try and make something positive out of the situation, by making a cast”.
On their website, they state that Ibrahimovic “chose money at the expense of love for his hometown and the club that raised him”.
 
“His choice became his downfall, from hero to unwanted.”
 
Proceeds from the sale of the noses will “go to purposes that promote the work against modern and commercial football, where the love of clubs and sports is at the centre”.
 
One thing is for certain though: the timing of the nose auction is no coincidence. Malmö FF and Hammarby IF are due to meet on Tuesday May 24th to battle it out in the Swedish Cup Final.

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SPORT

EXPLAINED: Why is Swedish cricket facing a scandal?

As recently as 2015, cricket was welcomed into the Swedish Sports Confederation (RF) as the fastest growing sport in the country. Now, nine years later, the sport has lost state funding and is risking expulsion from the confederation. What happened?

Published: 4 April 2024 14:16 CEST
EXPLAINED: Why is Swedish cricket facing a scandal?

In May last year, RF withdrew the Swedish Cricket Association’s funding due to problems with the association’s democracy.

One of the chief issues, according to RF, is that the cricket association has regularly held extra yearly meetings, with different factions within Swedish cricket using these as an opportunity to express their lack of confidence in the association’s board, regularly dismissing and reappointing different board members.

“Something was not right,” Björn Eriksson, RF chairman between 2015 and 2023, told SVT in its new mini documentary on Swedish cricket.

So, what happened?

In April 2019, the association held an annual general meeting (AGM), where the current chairman, Tariq Suwak, was elected. A few months later in December, this board was dismissed at an extraordinary general meeting.

Between 2021 and 2022, two AGMs and four extraordinary general meetings were held, with some members of the board replaced in 2021 and again in 2022, where Suwak was again appointed chairman.

In spring last year, RF withdrew state funding after an external investigation by Ernst and Young determined that the association’s leadership lacked the ability to lead, was incapable of carrying out long-term structural work to improve the association, lacked transparency and did not have the same level of democracy as other sport associations in Sweden.

“We believe that the association’s management and much of the rest of its activities are permeated by a poor understanding of how associational democracy should work,” the report stated. “Amendments to the statutes and extraordinary annual general meetings are used as a weapon to counteract people with dissenting views.”

“What they say in the report, it’s the truth,” cricket association chairman Tariq Suwak told SVT. “It’s a fair description of Swedish cricket”.

The report also stated that there was a lack of dialogue between association members and its board, which Suwak agrees with.

“I’ve felt the same way, as have many others… that there’s a lack of dialogue with the board. An extraordinary general meeting has felt like the only forum for asking questions and communicating with those who make the decisions,” he told SVT.

In a statement on its website, RF explained its decision to withdraw funding as “based on serious deviations from the values of sport and deviations from the member association’s obligations regarding auditors and auditing according to RF statutes”.

According to SVT’s documentary, the issue appears to be that certain groups have tried to adapt Swedish cricket to the benefit of their own club, for example by getting involved in deciding which teams will play each other, which teams will have the most home games, or even choosing the players for the national team.

Later that year, the club went through a financial crisis, ending the contracts of everyone in its headquarters. It was issued a list of necessary measures which need to be taken in order for it to requalify for economic support and remain a member of RF, including hosting courses in association democracy and tightening up the association’s statutes in order to “reduce the risk of non-democratic elements at annual meetings”.

What happens now?

In December last year, RF granted the cricket association a loan of 750,000 kronor “after the association could show that it has begun measures in accordance with the action plan which are going in a positive direction”.

“There are still major shortcomings, but we see a greater understanding from the association of what needs to be done, and a plan for carrying out that work,” SF vice chairman Toralf Nilsson said at the time.

“This gives us hope that they will be able to solve their challenges and create methods to work with democratic governance, prioritising knowledge of associations and work with where work to build knowledge of running an association as well as work on basic values must be prioritised.

The loan must be paid back by August 2024.

Do you know more about this? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. You can watch SVT Sport’s investigation into this topic here.

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