5 soccer stars who you probably didn't know have side jobs
July 8, 2016
Just last week, Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced his resignation from the Swedish national team. He will continue playing for Manchester United, even though - at 34 - he's nearing the end of his soccer career altogether. That's probably why he's already given some serious thought to life after football.
Last year, Ibrahimovic released his first perfume. That's nothing unusual: David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo also have scented sprays on the market.
Ibrahimovic's scent is simply called "Zlatan," but is unisex, he says, adding that his wife Helena wears it. The new fragrance consists of a mixture of lemon, green grass, ocean flavor and lavender. It goes without saying that "only the best ingredients for the best fragrance" were chosen, says the self-proclaimed soccer god.
And all this although the Swedish soccer idol couldn't have cared less about perfumes in the past. Born in 1981 to a Bosnian father and a Croatian mother in the multicultural city of Malmö, he received his first soccer shoes at age five. He started out in a youth club, cycling to his training courses with stolen bikes. The city center with its posh luxury shops remained a foreign world to him.
Ibrahimovic's career began with Ajax Amsterdam, then Juventus Turin, and and then he went off to Milan, Barcelona and Paris. Playing for some of Europe's best clubs, the star became known for his spectacular goals, but even more so for his eccentric behavior and provocative statements.
"Whoever wants to stop me has to kill me first," he once said, adding that he was his own his idol.
"Supreme" is Ibrahimovic's second fragrance, which hit the market in May, just a few weeks before the start of the Euro Cup 2016. This time exclusively for ladies, the perfume is more feminine with a whiff of bergamot, green tangerine and peony. As with his first scent, Ibrahimovic participated in the development of the second one.
Who knows what he'll come up with next after his transfer from Paris to Manchester. Your environment is said to have a big influence on your profession - something that may also hold true for German soccer star Thomas Müller of Bayern München. If you're curious about his side job, click through the picture gallery above.