Ibrahimovic loses Swedish Player of the Year award to Forsberg

Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic won the Swedish Player of the Year trophy 12 times, but in 2021 he has lost out to RB Leipzig midfielder Emil Forsberg.

The 40-year-old has helped transform Milan’s fortunes since returning from the LA Galaxy in January 2020, helping them to second place in Serie A last season and Champions League qualification after a seven-year absence.

So far this term, he has seven goals and two assists in 11 Serie A appearances.

However, Ibra was only a runner-up in the Guldbollen stakes for 2021, a trophy he had won 10 times in a row between 2007 and 2016.

Zlatan got back to lifting the Swedish Player of the Year award in 2020, but this is the first recognition for Forsberg.

The honour is given by a jury of Swedish sports reporters and Forsberg was picked after his nine goals and six assists last season, while he has already found the net six times in the current campaign for RB Leipzig.

Ibrahimovic remains the all-time record-holder and is unlikely to ever be surpassed, seeing as his 12 editions are a good 10 ahead of closest challengers Victor Lindelof, Fredrik Ljungberg, Tomas Brolin, Patrik Andersson, Glenn Hysen, Ronnie Hellstrom, Henrik Larsson and Glenn Stromberg.

𝔼𝕞𝕚𝕝 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕤𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕘 – 𝔾𝕦𝕝𝕕𝕓𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟 𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕣 𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟙 ⭐🇸🇪

Congrats on being named Sweden’s Footballer of the Year for the first time, @eforsberg10 🍾

🔴⚪ #WeAreLeipzig pic.twitter.com/2Y6tCTgWlB

— RB Leipzig English (@RBLeipzig_EN) December 27, 2021