Ibrahimovic career - Malmoe FF

Zlatan Ibrahimovic signed first contract with a club from his hometown Malmoe FF back in 1996.

He moved up to the senior side for the 1999 season of Allsvenskan. That season, Malmoe finished 13th in the league and were relegated to the second division, but returned to the top division the next season.

Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger unsuccessfully tried to persuade Ibrahimovic to join, while Ajax coach Leo Beenhakker had better luck. After having watched Ibrahimovic in friendly against Norwegian side Moss, Beenhakker was convinced to buy Zlatan and in March 2001, a deal between Ajax and Malmoe regarding Ibrahimovic's transfer to Amsterdam was announced.

In July 2001, Ibrahimovic officially joined Ajax for just short of €8 million.