Malmö FF is the club where Swedish football superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic became a professional before starting his world career. The offense that the 38-year-old bought shares in the capital club Hammarby IF, apparently caused anger among the fans of his former club from the south. Unknown damaged a statue of the aggressor in his hometown.
"Several people have the statue apparently defaced and sprayed with paint," said police spokesman Jimmy Morin the state-owned TV channel SVC. Investigations had been opened.
The three-and-a-half-meter statue weighing about 500 kilograms in front of the Malmo FF stadium was unveiled on 8 October in the presence of the footballer. Now it has been damaged with flares and the soil has been disfigured with racist slogans, local media reports.
Earlier in the day, Ibrahimovic announced that it had acquired a 25-percent stake in Stockholm-based club Hammarby IF, last season's table third. He announced that he wanted to make the club the largest club in Scandinavia.
Ibrahimovic had come to Malmö FF in mid-1995, for the pros, he ran from 1999 in 40 games and scored 16 goals before moving to Ajax 2001 in the Dutch league. For the Swedish national team, the attacker played 116 times and is with 62 goals record scorer of his country.
